Konoha's Beautiful Orange Beast
by Burnzs
Summary: You thought Lee had it hard, Naruto had an actual SEAL placed on him on the day of his birth.
1. Chapter 1

**A.N. Hiya! I'm back with another story. I have yet to be told my writing sucks, so I'm still at it. This here would be a challenge issued to me by Kagaseo. Well, sorta. I just read it on the profile and liked the idea, so I guess I tried the challenge more than it was issued. That's it…**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.**

**Chapter 1**

The Sandaime, Hiruzen Sarutobi, sighed; tonight was going to be hectic. Not only had he lost his successor to the Kyuubi attack, now he had to try to explain the council what happened and fix their worries. From his predictions, he had a feeling he was going to have to take the hat again.

He watched as the iryonin carried Minato's body away. Today, Konoha experienced a great loss. Not only did they lose their leader, the civilian and shinobi casualties numbered vastly. He looked down at the small blonde boy in the basket in front of him.

How was he going to be able to take care of Minato's son and still run the village? He gently ran his hand over the baby's forehead, eliciting a giggle. Once he made sure that the blankets were safe and the room was clear, he let out another depressed sigh and walked to the next room to deal with the restless council.

As the door closed, the window was slowly lifted and a dark figure crept toward the unguarded baby. The shadows covered most of his face, but the reptilian eyes seemed to cut through the darkness. The baby turned his head to the stranger and cooed cutely.

The figure wasn't impressed, "Kukuku, Naruto-kun, you have your father's looks." He hissed, "You should feel lucky that your uncle Orochimaru decided to visit."

Naruto just looked at him curiously; unaware of the danger he was in.

Orochimaru may have fled the village after being denied the position of Yondaime Hokage, but that didn't mean that he didn't keep up with current events in the village. While the death of the Yondaime did well for his plans, a jinchuriki did not. With time and training, Naruto could become a hindrance to his ambitions.

He would just kill the child, but the villagers would just seal the Kyuubi again, and the problem would just be postponed. (**1**) No, he decided to stop it here.

He pulled out a kunai and nicked his finger in preparation for a blood seal. As he redied the necessary hand signs, he held his kunai into his left hand. He channeled chakra in his fingers and prepared to seal the baby further, locking off the demon completely.

With a quick movement, he pressed his fingers to the seal causing the infant to scream in pain. Orochimaru did not concern himself with the approaching footsteps; he didn't need much time to finish the sealing. However, he did not foresee the ANBU with the dog mask that jumped through the window and tackled him from behind. As he fell, the kunai grazed the baby's face, causing a light cut on his cheek.

Because his hand was ripped from the baby prematurely, there was no control on the sealing and the mixture of Orochimaru's tainted chakra and the Kyuubi's demonic chakra swirled around the seal in an explosion of power. The ANBU and Orochimaru were blasted back by the aftershock as the broken seal overloaded.

Orochimaru took this opportunity to jump out the window and make his escape. He was unable to see the damage he did, but he had to hope it sufficed. With a hiss of anger, he made his way back to his lab.

Meanwhile, Sandaime looked on in shock as the chakra receded back into the seal of the crying child. He signaled to Hyou check the child's condition. With a hand sign, Hyou activated his byakugan and scanned Naruto over.

Hyou growled inaudibly, "Hokage-sama, it appears that whatever Orochimaru did ruined this boy's chakra system. From the looks of it, his original chakra system has burned out because of the presence of two overpowering sources. It appears that the two combined and forced out, breaking through the filter of the Yondaime' seal and completely overloading it."

Sandaime walked to Naruto and noticed the cut on his cheek. He was about to call for assistance, the cut seemed to close up on its own.

"What happened?" he looked to Hyou.

The panther-masked Anbu looked again to report, "It looks like a small amount of chakra has slipped through Orochimaru's seal and the Yondaime filter and is speeding the healing process."

"Will it affect him in the future?"

Hyou shook his head, "As long as the seal is left alone, he should be fine, but because of the small leak, he won't be able to get his chakra level above that of a civilian."

Sandaime looked down at Naruto and sighed, "It looks like my foolishness has cost us another shinobi." He turned to the window and could only guess where his rouge student went into hiding.

**XxOxX**

_**12 years later**_

"NARUTO!"

Sandaime chuckled as the aforementioned youth ran towards him followed by a group of angry chūnin. It wasn't very difficult to tell why they gave chase due to the fact that the top halves of their bodies were colored in red ink.

"Morning, Jiji!" Naruto yelled as he passed.

Hiruzen chuckled again and waved back, before continuing along the path. Naruto had grown a lot in the twelve years he had been in the village. Due to the seal completely ending the ability for him to become a shinobi, Hiruzen had decided to keep the sealing a secret between a select few. With no access to the Kyuubi's chakra other than the healing, there was no need to alert others to it. Not even Naruto knew about it. That was about to change.

He decided that after all these years; Naruto had matured enough to be told about the Kyuubi, so he was going to call him to his office later.

Naruto had certainly proved his capability when he moved out of the orphanage when he was six. Due to his inability to use chakra, Naruto had taken up to reading and learning. Sure, he didn't learn what he would in the academy, but he started his studies at civilian school and took it further.

As he grew, Naruto began to disprove the idea that being a shinobi was completely out of reach. After he heard of Rock Lee, the boy who was unable to utilize chakra, he set out to find his own way. He turned to others to help him.

He went to Lee himself and asked for advice and the two instantly cliqued. Lee had given a promise and a nice guy pose, saying that he would do all he could to help Naruto become a shinobi. They started by talking to Gai.

After crying, hugging, and utilizing the sunset backdrop genjutsu, Gai agreed to teach the "youthful" blonde what he could. Unfortunately, Naruto was unable to do the same training as Lee. His complete lack of an effective chakra system stopped him; so instead, Gai helped him to get up his speed. Once that was done, the two worked on evasion.

Hiruzen chuckled as he thought to the day when Gai came up, bragging about Naruto, saying that Naruto was able to evade at the level of a low chūnin. He had acted the same way as he had when he first introduced Lee. That man surely like the underdogs.

Once Naruto seemed satisfied with the basics, he and Lee brainstormed for an effective weapon. Lucky for them, Lee's teammate, Tenten overheard them and she agreed to help. She and Naruto trained under Hayate in Kenjutsu. While Naruto wasn't as skilled as Tenten, he could still work a mean sword.

They practice ranged as well. He became skilled with multiple throwing weapons, but his favorite to use was senbon. Because of this, Tenten suggested that they try to learn about poisons. She said that poison and senbon are an effective combination.

Taking her suggestion, they went to Ino's family flower shop to learn about poisons and Ino happily lent them her books on the subject. Naruto took to poison like a fish to water. He learned how to make mixtures ranging from simple sleeping gas to quick deadly poisons. The one he seemed to make the most lately though was his patented "forever-itching powder."

Hiruzen had been unfortunate enough to be hit by one of those bombs. How he was able to make waterproof itching powder, he would never know.

As they hung out at the flower shop and talked to Ino, Shikamaru walked in with Choji and they overheard of Naruto's quest to become a ninja. With some schmoozing, Naruto was able to get Shikamaru to help with his tactics.

With practice, Naruto eventually got to the point where he could play shogi against Shikamaru for three hours before getting stomped. At first, it seemed like an insult when Shikamaru told him that, but it was explained that the best one so far only got to two and a half hours. He begrudgingly accepted the compliment.

Once he had learned these skills, he tried to get into the academy, but even with the recommendation of the third Hokage, the civilian council wouldn't let him in. They talked about how Hiruzen had no authority over the civilian population. It was out of his jurisdiction. When Naruto protested, they ignored him, and that was their terrible, terrible mistake.

He began to act out and prank.

And when he pranked, he didn't hold back. He became a pain in the butt to the council. Whenever they tried to get Sarutobi to stop Naruto, he would use the same excuse and say it was out of his jurisdiction. They were very angry, but they could never catch him.

Sarutobi took a long drag from his pipe and stepped towards the Hokage tower. He would have to send Iruka to fetch Naruto for him later.

**XxOxX**

Naruto waited until he was out of sight from the chūnin before he stepped off to the side and hid his presence. When they ran past, he put on a hat, changed his jacket and snuck to the park to meet Lee. When he walked into the clearing, he waited for his green spandex clad friend.

"That was most unyouthful," Lee's voice suddenly appeared behind him, making him jump.

He turned to him and crossed his arms, "but…" he trailed off.

Lee rolled his eyes, "but it was funny." He said, defeated.

"Yeah!" Naruto chirped, "That'll be the last time they insult me!"

Lee furrowed his brow, "What did they even do to you?"

Naruto lowered his head, "They caught me watching the spars at the academy and made fun of me for my inability to be a ninja."

Lee scoffed, "And you listened?" he crossed his arms and pointed his head at Naruto, "You know as well as I that you could totally kick their asses."

Naruto let out a laugh, "I remember when you would get mad at me for shouting obscenities, and now I got you joining in the fun."

Lee shook his head, smiling, "You've corrupted me," he said, "More importantly, though, are you ready for our spar?"

"Dattebayo!"

Lee couldn't hold back his smile as he redied himself.

Lee charged at Naruto and threw a punch at his head, which he quickly ducked. He followed up with a kick which was dodged just as easily. They went into a dance of Lee attacking and Naruto dodging until Lee finally had it and he feigned a right hook and threw a quick punch that caught Naruto across the jaw, sending him sliding back.

Naruto wiped the blood from his mouth, smiling as he made his way back into the fray. He ducked underneath a particularly powerful forward thrust before he struck. A sideswipe to the knees hit, but Lee quickly stopped his fall with a back handspring. After he got his footing back, he attacked and Naruto was forced to block a barrage of blows. Reaching for a flash bomb, Naruto threw it down and jumped away for a temporary reprieve.

He retreated a few feet before releasing a barrage of senbon. The green clad boy danced around the sporadic attacks with ease. All the while he closed the gap between the two.

As Lee neared, Naruto quickly pulled a ninja thread nearby and a large volley of senbon flew at him from another part of the training ground.

Lee jumped out of the way, all the while widening the distance between the two. He paused, "When did you wire this place?" he asked.

Naruto smiled, "I have the world wired."

Lee was unbothered by the proclamation and quickly sped his way towards Naruto before tripping on another ninja wire and sliding forward and landing at the other boy's feet.

He smiled down at him, "Give up yet?"

As an answer, Lee quickly swept Naruto's feet before he could react, causing the orange clad boy to fall on his butt. Now both boys were on the ground, but before either could get up, Iruka appeared on the side of the clearing. He didn't look happy.

"NARUTO!" he yelled, causing said boy to scamper up to him while trying best to look innocent.

"Yes, Iruka-nii?" (**2**) he asked sweetly, looking bashful and rubbing his toe in the ground.

Iruka was not impressed, "What the hell!" he yelled, "I just got finished signing the papers for your last prank! The last thing we needed was more trouble!"

Naruto looked down in shame, "I'm sorry," he said, sniffling, "They wouldn't stop pointing out my failures. They even went as far to say that I would never be a ninja!" he looked up at his adopted brother with glassy eyes, "I am going to be a ninja! They didn't know what they were talking about!"

After that statement, Iruka's anger crumbled and he hugged his otōto, letting him sob into his jacket. He sat there as Naruto whimpered into his chūnin vest until finally, he looked down at Naruto.

"Feel better?" he asked.

"Maybe?" he sniffled back.

"How about some ramen later?"

Naruto immediately brightened up, "Thanks Iruka-nii!"

Iruka just laughed heartfully, "Sure thing, but it will have to wait until after you see the Hokage. He's asking for you."

"Alright," Naruto said, drying his eye, "I'll head right over."

Iruka waved at him, "I'll meet you at Ichiraku's."

Naruto waved back and as soon as Iruka was out of sight he smiled and turned to Lee, "Hook. Line. And Sinker."

"That was most unyouthful!" Lee said.

"But…" he trailed off.

"But it was funny."

"Damn straight!"

"Well, at least you have the deceit part of being a ninja down."

Naruto smiled, "Thanks, man!"

Lee rolled his eyes and motioned toward the Hokage tower.

Naruto waved and ran off to see what his Jiji wanted.

**END**

**There ya go! First chapter of the challenge. Now that I have all that backstory history crap out of the way, now we get ****to the real stuff! I have a basic idea of what I want to do. BASIC. So that means that I am open to suggestions if anyone has any good plot twists. I mean, I'm already using someone else's story premise, why not throw in some stolen ideas too! As long as t****hey aren't stupid… **ಠ**_**ಠ

**1 He doesn't know that the seal is the shiki fujii yet, so he doesn't know that if he kills Naruto, then he kills kyuubi**

**2 Remember, he's not in school.**

**Any****who! Read and Review! Favorite if it's your fancy!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.**

**Chapter 2**

Naruto sat in front of the old man's office and mentally prepared himself for what he was about to do. Over the years, his jiji had slowly gotten immune to his prompting and acting. While he found that he could get Iruka to practically do anything, the old kage seemed to have figured out his game.

It was times like this when he had wished it worked again. While he did love pranking those who had it coming, the repercussions were a lot easier before the leader of the village figured out his manipulation tactics.

He mentally went through the situation ahead and planned the possible reactions the Sandaime could have. While all the plans seemed to have the same outcome, he decided to go with a classic. He quietly waited for the secretary to allow him to come in.

When he was given the "go ahead," he welled up his tear ducts and entered the office bawling. He had to resist the urge to smirk at the shocked and worried expression on his grandfather's face. He sniffled and wiped his nose. When he made sure he had the needed attention, he slowly walked to the couch and sat down.

He looked up at the Hokage with glassy eyes, "You wanted to see me?" he sniffled.

Hiruzen smiled warmly, "What's wrong?" he asked. "Does this have something to do with the prank you did earlier?"

Naruto wiped his nose again, "They said I could never be a ninja," he paused before looking down and adding quietly, "I didn't want to believe them."

The old man just looked down, his smile remaining constant, "and you expect me to believe that?" he sat back up and lit his pipe, as the blonde looked around nervously, he merely chuckled, "If it was that easy to make you doubt yourself, you would have quit long ago."

The Uzumaki lowered his head in shame. He knew he was caught, "Damn," he swore quietly. He looked back up, all traces of sorrow gone from his expression, "What did you want to see me about?"

Hiruzen couldn't help the small chuckle that escaped his lips at the boy's sudden change, "While I don't approve of the prank you pulled, I think that I should leave the punishment to Iruka," ignoring the horrified expression on the blonde, he continued, "As for why I have called you here, I have something that I need to share with you…"

He trailed off, as if he was trying to find the right words to phrase whet he was trying to say. Finally, he sighed, activating some privacy seals, he took another drag from his pipe and opened with a question, "Naruto, what can you tell me about Kyuubi no Kitsune?"

"The Nine-tails fox attacked Konoha about twelve years ago and nearly destroyed the village before the Yondaime Hokage killed it." Naruto said, his tone of voice showing a mixture of confusion at being asked such a random question.

Hiruzen sighed, "Not quite," he paused, "He was able to defeat Kyuubi. Not kill it."

The blonde frowned. "Then..."

"The history that is taught the shinobi academy and civilian schools has been changed for several purposes. The end result is the same though; a demon was defeated at the cost of a well-loved Hokage. The truth is much more complicated. In reality, the Kyuubi was not a life form that could be truly killed. Thus the Yondaime devised a different method of dealing with the demon.

He created a seal capable of sealing the fox away. However, due to the fox's immense power, he couldn't simply seal it into an urn, like Kumogakure had done theirs. He needed something that was alive. He needed something that had a chakra system, one that was not yet mature and would grow to adapt to the Kyuubi." he gave the blonde a pointed look, "Naruto, do you understand what I'm telling you, and more importantly, why?"

Naruto frowned, his mind piecing together the hints that were given. Something with chakra; that would be a person then? Not yet mature probably meant someone recently born. But what did that have to do with him?

Suddenly, the truth hit him and he started to tremble. If the fox was sealed into a newborn and he was the only one born on that day, then the connection wasn't that hard to make. If he had a demon sealed inside of him, was there a chance of him losing it and having the fox kill everyone?

Sensing his distress, the old man held up a hand, "Now don't worry, the Yondaime was a seals master, so there it is highly unlikely that the Kyuubi would be able to get out."

Naruto was glad for the reassurance, so he gave an awkward smile in thanks, but had to resist the urge to shake his head, "Wait," he said, I thought you said my chakra system was destroyed the day I was born! If that's true, then how did it get sealed in me?"

Sarutobi looked around as if bothered. Naruto almost thought he wasn't going to get an answer, but the old man interrupted, "There was a malfunction with the seal. A man tampered with it and it ruined your chakra system. That is why you still have chakra, but not enough to fully utilize it."

"Oh," he responded awkwardly. A long silence fell over the two.

After some time, the third took another drag and leaned forward, "Now, I talked to the council again about letting you be a shinobi.

Naruto nodded, happy for the subject change.

Sarutobi smiled, "It looks like they finally gave in." The hyperactive teen resisted to dance around the room, but instead waited for the old man to continue, "With reassurance from Hayate, Gai, and Inoichi, you were put in a good enough light to give you a chance."

Naruto frowned, "But the academy has already held graduation. How am I going to be able to be on a team?"

Sarutobi brightened, "You're in luck!" he smiled, "due to the uneven number of academy students, there was a team that was short on member," he reached into his desk and pulled out a slip of paper that he handed to the curious blonde, "The information is on the paper; meet your sensei and teammates then and there tomorrow morning."

The blonde preteen jumped up and gave a brilliant smile, "Thanks, old man!" He waved and ran out of the building, headed straight toward the usual training ground. As he approached, he couldn't help but shudder at the killing intent that seemed to be directed at him.

He quickly whipped around and came face to face with one of the chūnin from his earlier "escapade." He chuckled nervously and scratched the back of his head, "What's up?" he asked.

His greeting seemed to be enough to snap the angry ninja out of his rage induced stupor and he was barely able to avoid a punch aimed directly at him. He danced back, avoiding each sloppy swing as the chūnin roared in protest.

He quickly turned around and made a break for it. He reached up and grabbed a ninja wire and yanked it as he was passing. He was satisfied when he heard the splash that came from where the chūnin fell through the trapdoor into the hole full of paint.

He walked over to it and looked down at the fuming shinobi, clicking his teeth and shaking his head, "That wasn't very professional," he scolded.

The chūnin responded by lifting his finger into the universal sign for not "I love you."

Naruto ran away laughing until he found the object of his search. His green clad friend was in a nearby training ground, beating up a stump. He looked down at the splintered mess and whistled, "Be sure to remind me to never do whatever it is that log did." He said.

Lee jumped and turned around, "Hello," he said, "I did not see you there. How did the talk with the Hokage go?"

Naruto tried to hide his look of discomfort by shrugging, "meh," he said, "More importantly, what's wrong?" he pointed to the splintered mess that was left of the log, "or should I assume that that log really had that coming?"

Lee chuckled, "In truth, I was just a little upset by Neji's harping. He seems to have taken a liking to trying to discourage me," he gave a nice-guy pose, "However; I will not be taken down so easily!" he went back to massacring the stump.

Naruto sighed and put his hand on his friend's shoulder, "Don't listen to him," he said, "You know as well as I that Neji's full of hot air. Just give him some time; you'll get to him soon."

Lee sighed, smiling at the blonde, "Thanks," he said, "I really needed that," he paused, "But I doubt that the reason you came to me was to comfort me for something you just heard."

Naruto brightened, "Oh yeah!" he said; "The old man said that I could finally join a genin team!" he beamed.

"That is great!" Lee said, adding another nice-guy pose, "Now you are only a year behind me!" he paused, giving a hopeful look, "we'll still be able to spar now and then, right?"

Naruto scoffed and waved his concern off, "of course," he said, "I mean, it wouldn't be as satisfying if I was unable to still combat the genius of hard work."

Lee blushed and Naruto barked out a loud laugh.

They jumped back and began their next spar, laughing as they went.

**XxOxX**

Naruto woke up the next morning barely able to contain his excitement. Imagine, him, Uzumaki Naruto, finally a genin of Konohagakure no Sato. He jumped up and threw on his beloved orange jumpsuit and ran downstairs.

Iruka smiled and waved at him as he left. He would have stopped for breakfast, but he was too excited and he couldn't wait for his genin test. He reached the training ground to find two other kids waiting for him.

The girl was pretty. She had long pink hair that was cut off at her shoulder blades. Her Hitai-ate was tied up as a headband that kept her bangs away from her admittedly large forehead. She had green eyes and a pink dress. Her whole demeanor just screamed "civilian," but he was not one to underestimate his opponents, so he decided to give her the benefit of a doubt. He would have to measure her skills later.

The boy seemed opposite to her in every way. Where she gave off an air of happiness and innocents, he seemed dark and oppressive, if not scary. He had black hair and obsidian eyes. He had his Hitai-ate tied as a headband. His shirt was blue with a red and white fan insignia on the back. As Naruto walked towards them, the boy seemed to examine his white shorts in an attempt to avoid socializing.

"Hello!" he said, waving.

The girl perked up at seeing him, "Oh, hello!" she chirped, "Are you the one that Kakashi-sensei told us about?" she asked.

Naruto frowned. He did remember reading about a Hatake Kakashi as the instructor, but just to make sure, he said, "I'm supposed to be your new team member."

The girl smiled and tilted her head cutely, "I'm Haruno Sakura. It's a pleasure to meet you!"

Naruto nodded his head I acceptance, "I am Uzumaki Naruto, and I look forward to working with you."

"What can you do to contribute?" the boy interrupted in a tone bordering on rude.

Naruto rolled his eyes, "Jeeze, teme, why not let me get settled in before interrogating me?

The boy huffed and the girl looked livid, "Naruto!" she yelled, "Don't be mean to Sasuke-kun!" She huddled over by him and began to fawn over him.

So much for a benefit of a doubt. Damn fan girls. He ignored her and turned to Sasuke, "Nice to meet you _Sasuke-kun_." He said, stressing the title.

He grunted in response.

Naruto looked around, "Hey, where's our sensei? I was told 8:00 was the meeting time and its 8:30 now."

Sakura turned to him and shrugged, "Maybe he's a little late?" she supplied.

Naruto sighed and walked over to the tree. He turned to talk to the others, but they seemed so preoccupied with each other (Sakura fawning over Sasuke and Sasuke ignoring her) that he just decided to take a nap. They'd wake him up when it was time for the test.

**END**

**Thanks for the story alerts, favorites, reviews, ect. Really. I wasn't too sure about the story at first, but I guess it's not COMPLETELY bad. I guess this chapter didn't get to the action like I originally planned, but I realized more back story was required. I'm not sure if you noticed or not, but I suck at writing fight scenes, so if there is someone out there willing to write them for me, (ha! Stolen fight scenes too!) it would be helpful. Also, I was given a requirement that I was not supposed to bash characters, so if suggestions are sent in, that cannot be included. *koff* again *koff***

**Anywho…Read and review.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.**

**Chapter 3**

"YOUR'RE LATE!" Naruto was broken from his dream of dancing bowls of ramen as his female teammate berated their tarty teacher.

Kakashi waved it off, "Maa, maa," he said, "I saw a black cat cross my path so I took the long way around."

Naruto scoffed at the obvious lie, but he took the time to fully look at their sensei. The man wore a standard Jōnin outfit. His Hitai-ate was put over one eye like a pseudo eye patch. His hair was silver and seemed to stand in a way that defied gravity.

"C'mon, Sakura-chan," he tried to diffuse the situation, "It can't be that late."

Sakura gave him a dead-panned look, "It's 9:30."

Naruto blanched, "Say what?" he asked incredulously, shooting a glare at his teacher, "What the hell!"

Kakashi still looked unbothered, "C'mon, my cute little genin," he said, "it's time for the test to see if you're worthy of being ninja."

Sakura looked confused, "What do you mean? We already took the genin test."

Naruto noticed the spark of sadistic glee in the teacher's eye, so before he could burst Sakura's bubble with whatever bombshell he prepared to drop, the blonde ninja decided to interfere. He turned to Sakura and spoke before Kakashi, "Well, it's clearly not to be, so let's just get this new challenge down."

Naruto took some sadistic pleasure in the disapproving look that his teacher shot him, none the less, Kakashi continued anyway, "Not quite," he said, turning fully to Naruto, "we still need introductions."

Naruto waved to him, "Hi, I'm Naruto," he crossed his arms, "now let's get started already."

Kakashi's visible features crinkled into a weird "eye-smile" and he just chuckled, "Not quite, my eager little genin. We need more. We'll go around sharing our likes, dislikes, hobbies, and dreams of the future."

Naruto's shoulders drooped, "Can't we wait until after the test, I want to go to Ichiraku's because I didn't get to eat breakfast."

In his complaining, Naruto almost missed the satisfied gleam in the man's eye after he mentioned his meal troubles. Sadistic bastard.

Kakashi merely smiled again, his voice loosing no humor, "Nope," he pointed to Sakura, "You first, Pinky."

If the name offended her at all, she didn't show it, she just smiled sweetly and said, "Maybe you should go first, sensei, so we can know how to do it."

Kakashi took up a thinking pose, "Alright," he said, "My name is Hatake Kakashi, I like a lot of stuff, and my dislikes are also numerous, my hobbies… I'll tell you when you're older, and my dream is none of your business."

The three preteens sweat dropped, _So all we got was his name… _they thought.

Sakura sighed, "My name is Haruno Sakura, my likes are…" she looked over at Sasuke and giggled, "My dislikes are my rival Ino and other girls who get in my way. My hobbies are…" she looked over at Sasuke and giggled louder, "My dreams of the future are…" She looked over at Sasuke and squealed.

The other three sweat dropped at this too, each with their own thought.

_Damn Fan girl._

_She's going to need to get more serious._

_I hope she doesn't break into my house._

Kakashi pointed to Sasuke, "Yo, tall, dark, and broody! You're up next."

Sasuke scoffed, "I am Uchiha Sasuke; I like little and dislike everything else. My hobbies are training and my dream…no, my ambition is to kill one man."

Naruto visibly shuddered and made a loud noise of discomfort, "Dude, that's weird."

Sasuke seethed, "What do you know? You didn't even graduate with the rest of us! You're just a dobe."

"Teme!"

Kakashi interrupted them before Naruto could get serious, "Blondie! You're up next!"

Said blondie crossed his arms and huffed, "Whatever," he scoffed. And with that, he shifted his demeanor and looked into each of their eyes shooting a look of confidence. He enjoyed the surprised looks on their faces as he spoke in a calm, mature manner, "My name is Uzumaki Naruto. I like…no, I love being underestimated because it gives me an edge over my opponents. I like Training and my friends. I dislike being looked down on for my handicap and the three minutes it takes to cook ramen."

The other three sweat dropped at the serious tone he used when he said his last dislike, but he still continued, "My hobbies are training, sparring with my best friend, and checking out the new weapons in Tenten's shop. My dream is to become a professional shinobi and see how far I can get."

As if to help his image, an illogical breeze blew past him and whirled the leaves around him, making him look cooler.

**XxOxX**

Meanwhile, Lee Choji, and Shikamaru had met up and were talking as they waited for the meeting time of their teams when they noticed their blonde friend sharing his dream with the rest of Team 7. Lee was about to greet the hyperactive teen, but Shikamaru stopped him before he could take a step. The lazy genius pointed to Naruto's hand and a small glare alerted them to the ninja wire in his hand. With a swift tug, a fan off to the side blew a gust of wind around the Uzumaki, increasing the coolness around him.

Shikamaru scoffed and rubbed the space between his eyes, "Idiot," he said.

Lee paled, "I wonder if he really does have the world wired."

**XxOxX**

Kakashi smiled at the new genin in front of him. It was a shame he was going to have to crush their dreams, but it had to be done. However, that Uzumaki was an interesting one. From the report from the Sandaime, he was completely without chakra, and he would have protested the addition into his team, if not for the confirmation of his skills from not one, but three high ranked shinobi. That conviction when he talked of his dream was pretty convincing on its own. Maybe his dream of being a shinobi wasn't too far off.

He was cut from his musing as Pinky addressed Blondie, "Hey, what was that you said about your handicap?" she asked.

The blonde just scratched the back of his head and chuckled nervously, "Well, I have no chakra, so I can't do all that crap that you guys do."

She looked worried at this, "Isn't dangerous for you to be a shinobi the-"

He interrupted her, tutting disapprovingly, "What did I say about looking down on me for my handicap?"

She had the courtesy to look sheepish, "Sorry about that." She said.

Blondie waved her off, "Don't worry about it." He said, "Everyone gets one freebie. Next time, I'll prank you."

She sweat dropped in response.

Kakashi interrupted with another eye-smile, "As amusing as that is, I'm afraid that we need to get started soon. He pulled out an alarm clock and two bells. Setting the alarm, he began, "You have until noon to get these bells from me," he said.

The pinkette interrupted, "But sensei, there are only two bells," she said, tilting her head.

Kakashi's eye-smile only grew bigger, "That's because whoever doesn't get the bell will fail right there. Not only that, you aren't allowed to have lunch after the battle, and I will tie you to the post and eat right in front of you." He paused as the three genin's stomachs growled to make his point. "The hint I will give is to look underneath the underneath. The only way you will get these bells is to come at me with the intent to kill….Begin!"

He was surprised at how fast they were able to jump away. He stood there and waited. Maybe these guys would actually make a plan together to get a be-

"I'll never back down!"

He thought too soon. Right in the clearing, Blondie smiled at him and prepared a nijato. Kakashi eye-smiled and spoke as he reached into his own supply pack, "You're not very smart, are you?"

The boy had the audacity to smirk at him, "I'm smarter than you think." Kakashi watched his eyes follow his hand as he pulled his precious porn out of his pack.

He flipped his book open and smirked under his mask, "Okay, begin."

The boy wasted no time in attacking. He threw a flurry of swipes which were easily dodged. And as Kakashi continually dodged the swipes, and to his surprise, it looked like Blondie was smiling as he missed. Finally, a wide swing sent the boy flying over the Jōnin.

Kakashi held back a snicker as he lectured the child, "Never let your opponent get behind you," he said, putting his hands together in a familiar hand sign, he yelled "Sennen Goroshi!"

He listened for the oh so satisfying cry of pain, but he was disappointed when instead, he heard the dinging of a bell in front of him. He looked in surprise to see the blonde holding the bells and dangling them in victory.

He quickly brought his hand up in the ram sign, "Kai!" he shouted and whipped around in time to grab the broody boy's wrist as he reached for the bells. Clicking his teeth disappointingly, he spoke down to him, "Now now, let's not be too hasty."

The boy just looked up at him and gave him an uncharacteristically large smirk. Widening his eyes, he brought up the ram seal again, "Kai!"

When the illusion melted away, the broody boy was replaced with the hyperactive knucklehead. Said knucklehead beamed up at him. Pinky and Broody were standing away from him, each with a bell.

"Well," Kakashi chuckled, "That double genjutsu was impressive. Tell me though; are you really okay with sacrificing your chances as a ninja? Now that you are the only one without a bell, you lose."

The girl chirped up, "You can't fail Naruto! He was the one who came up with the plan! We couldn't have done it without him!"

Kakashi turned to the broody one, not releasing his hold on the blonde, "Is this true?" he asked.

The Uchiha grunted but reluctantly nodded.

Kakashi's serious expression melted into another eye-smile and he happily said, "Congratulations, you three pass."

The girl looked surprised, the Uchiha grunted and the blonde rolled his eyes and yelled at him, "Then get the hell off me!"

The pinkette rose her hand, "Um, how does that work, since we all didn't get a bell?"

Kakashi gave another eye-smile, "Because, my little genin, this was merely a test to see if you were able to really work as a team. I introduced the two bells to try and separate you, but that obviously didn't work."

Blondie scoffed, "Too easy."

"Care to elaborate?" he asked, letting the boy go.

He just brushed nonexistent dust off of his bright orange jumpsuit and sighed, "I looked underneath the underneath. Besides, genin teams are usually in three, so saying you'll fail only one doesn't add up."

The broody one rolled his eyes, "We were going to be a team of two genin before you showed up, dobe."

"Teme!"

Kakashi interrupted again, separating the two, "Anyways, I think you all should get home. We have a ton of D-ranks to do tomorrow and they are going to be enjoyable to watch."

The blonde was the first to speak up, "Do you guys want to join me for a celebratory bowl ramen at Ichiraku's? I'll pay!"

The girl crinkled her nose and frowned, "No thanks," she said, "I'm on a diet." With that, she turned to walk home.

The broody one grunted and left for his house without another word.

The kid looked downtrodden, but he put on a smile and turned to his teacher, "The offer's still open," he said hopefully.

Kakashi waved him off, "Sorry, I have to report to the Hokage. Maybe we'll do it later." At the boy's deflation, he added, "I'll make sure to make the others come next time too."

He received a sad smile in response, "Thanks Kakashi-sensei, I guess I'll see you tomorrow." The depressed blonde made his way out and towards the favorite ramen stand.

Kakashi sighed. This team was going to be the death of him. He shushined away to meet the Hokage and the rest of the Jōnin senseis.

**XxOxX**

Naruto sighed. That could have gone better. If they were truly supposed to be working as a team, he was going to have to work on getting the others to actually talk to each other. In the meantime, he might as well get some training down.

He made his way down to the training ground, but he was stopped by the sound of sobs. He quietly made his way toward a clearing where he saw a small frail looking girl curled up and bawling her eyes out.

She had short blue hair and a brown jacket that seemed too big for her. He stepped out from a tree and walked over to her, "Are you okay?" he asked the girl.

At the sound of his voice, her head shot up and she gave him a terrified look, "I'm s-sorry," she said, "I d-didn't m-mean to intrude. I'll l-leave."

Naruto grabbed her arm her before she could jump away, "Hang on, I was just concerned, I wasn't trying to kick you out." He said quietly.

She looked up at him and he was able to see that she had the byakugan from one of the clans in town. If he wasn't mistaken, it was also the one that Lee's asshole teammate, Neji was from.

She gave him a small smile and stuttered out, "I-it's alright, Naruto-kun, th-thank you for your concern, though."

Naruto frowned, "Do we know each other?" he asked.

She quickly shook her head, "N-no, my name is Hinata, I just see you p-practicing a lot and I th-think it is really inspiring. You work really h-hard to make up for the lack of ch-chakra."

"It's that obvious, huh?" he joked, but she seemed to take it wrong.

"N-no! You are the h-hardest working person I've s-seen. If it weren't for my doujutsu, I w-wouldn't be able to t-tell about y-your chakra!"

Naruto held up his hands, trying to calm her, "It's alright Hinata-chan, I was just joking," he put his hand on her shoulder, "More importantly, I was wondering what was wrong. You seem like you need someone to talk to."

The girl flushed, "B-but you don't k-know me," she said, "Wh-why would you want to listen to my problems?"

Naruto gave her a warm smile, "I don't need to know you to know you are upset," he said, "I promise I won't judge, I can just let you let your frustrations out."

Hinata reluctantly agreed, and she began to share of her family's low expectations of her and how she felt like such a failure because she couldn't measure up. Naruto said nothing throughout her story, only nodding occasionally to make sure she knew he was listening.

When she finished, she seemed as if the weight of the world had been taken off her shoulders. She was much more open after he let her spill her sorrows on him. As he left later, he was content. Not only had he made a new friend, he also helped a girl in need.

Yup…Today was definitely a productive day. Now if only he could get it to stay that way.

**END**

**I just realized something… Writing in canon is boring. That means I won't do it anymore. I will still follow the high points of the actual story, bu****t how they get there will be different. You guys are so doomed… K, Bye!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.**

**Chapter 4**

The mysterious figure crept through the alleyway, watching for her pursuers. She knew that if she were to be caught again, then those three ninja would take her back to that hellhole. As long as she had anything to say about it, she was not going back.

She knew that it would be difficult, but this had not been the first time she had escaped. Each time, she would get farther before the hired ninja would catch her and bring her back. Today, however, they had not found her as quickly and she was making her way towards the exit of the village.

She scratched at the bow that was tied onto her by that horrible woman. As far as she could remember, she had always run from that woman, but somehow, she would always be caught. This time was different, though they hadn't come and the gate was close… very close. She thought that she was finally going to get away, but she stopped when she saw the orange blur that zoomed past her.

Damn, they found her. She quickly jumped to the side as the orange ninja smashed down next to her in an attempt to catch her. She zigzagged through the alley in attempt to lose him, but he stayed adamant. When she finally jumped out into the village streets, she ran underneath a nearby wheel barrel filled with cabbages.

When she came up from the other side, she had to do a quick sidestep to avoid the net that was thrown by the red ninja. She ran further down the street until a nearby door opened and she quickly rushed into a restaurant and ran past the confused patriots and waiters.

As she neared the back, she heard the sound of the door crashing open as her pursuers entered through the front and started after her again. She barely concealed a yelp as the blue ninja jumped up and grabbed at her.

Luckily, she was able to get away, but she was starting to get tired, so she ran out the back, pushing over food barrels and such as she passed in an attempt to slow down those confounded ninja.

She watched in horror as the progress of the three remained constant as they jumped over her makeshift obstacles with unnatural grace and balance. What's worse is that they were slowly gaining on her.

She was going to make one last jump for it, but she was stopped when she found herself in the powerful grip of the orange ninja. She squirmed to get free, but his hold remained. In a last ditch attempt to get free, she bit him and scratched at his face. She hid the smirk at him as he cursed and dropped her.

She made a dash for it again, but she was caught as soon as she hit the ground, as the blue one wrapped her in what looked to be an overly large shirt. After clawing an attempt to rip the seemingly unbreakable fabric, finally she conceded and waited in darkness until she heard the dreaded sound of that horrible woman.

Suddenly, she was blinded as the shirt was opened and the woman picked her up and began to attempt to squeeze the life out of her, "Tora! My dear, Tora! I'm so glad they found you!"

Tora let out a yelp and made a pitiful attempt to free herself from her master's grip.

"Thank kami that's finally over, -ttebayo," the orange one spoke as she was dragged away. She silently cursed the three as the door closed her off from the outside world.

**XxOxX**

Naruto hissed in pain as Sakura rubbed the alcohol covered cotton ball on his scratch marks. He was just glad it was finally over, if they had to find that damn cat one more time, he wasn't sure he could handle the stress.

He looked pleadingly to the old man as he discussed the next mission with Kakashi, "So the missions available are as followed. You can paint a house, do some gardening, or help repair a house that was flooded. As for other D-rank missi-,"

"No."

The other four room occupants looked up at the blonde boy that interrupted, confusion evident on their faces. Kakashi finally pulled himself back and responded, "What do you mean?"

Naruto just turned up his nose in disgust, "No more D-rank! I want a challenge, Old man!"

Sakura looked taken aback by his disrespect. She gained a tick mark and reeled back to punch him. He had to force himself not to reflexively dodge and took the hit instead. He knew how she needed the stress release.

"Naruto! That's disrespectful!" she yelled, quickly turning to bow to the Sandaime, "I apologize for his behavior, he's an idiot."

The old man just chuckled and turned to the reeling blonde, "I suppose I might be able to honor your request," he said, gaining a look of shock from everyone but Naruto.

Said blonde scratched his head, "You mean that actually worked?"

He chuckled again, "We just received a C-rank mission from the land of waves. It's an escort mission, and-"

He was interrupted as the door burst open and a grey blur crashed into the room, "What the hell!" he yelled, "How come these losers get a C-rank mission already? We're just as ready as them!"

"Oi!" Naruto yelled, "Be respectful to the old man!" The other occupants in the room sweat dropped at this.

Sakura gained another tick mark and she reached over and smacked the new kid in the head, "Kiba, you baka!"

Kiba just rubbed the back of his head and gave a sheepish look, "Sorry about that, I got a little excited."

Naruto raised an eyebrow, "Apparently." He said.

Kiba turned to him and jabbed a finger at him, "Who the hell are you? You weren't in our class!"

Naruto was about to answer when he was interrupted by another woman who entered the room. She wore a long white vest that seemed to also act as a short dress. Her hands were covered in bandages, but her left sleeve was cut off, "I apologize for the interruption," she said.

The Hokage merely chuckled, "No problem at all, Kurenai," he said, "In fact, your student makes a good point. While I do think that Team 7 is ready for their first C-rank mission, I also feel that Team 8 have come far along as well."

Kiba scratched his head, "You mean that actually worked?"

The Hokage chuckled again, "Not necessarily," he said, "It probably wouldn't do for you two to act so brash in the future. Not all leaders find your…uh…enthusiasm so funny."

Kiba scratched his head again, "Gomen nasai, Hokage-sama," he said.

The old man waved his concern off and gave him a warm smile before turning to Kakashi and Kurenai, "So what do you say, you two?" he asked.

Kakashi gave a nonchalant shrug, "Sounds good to me," he said.

Kurenai nodded sharply, "Hai, Hokage-sama. Thank you for this opportunity."

Naruto could barely hold his excitement, "Alright!" he shouted, gaining everyone's attention, "Not only are we going to be able to get past these crappy D-rank missions, I also get to meet new ninja from my age group!"

Kurenai smiled at him, "And who might you be?" she asked, "I saw you at the graduating exams, but I didn't see you when they were assigning teams."

Naruto rubbed the back of his neck and chuckled nervously, "I was just watching. I wanted to see how cool the others were. I didn't actually graduate from the academy."

Kurenai was about to question what he meant, but they were interrupted by the old man again, "I have assessed his ability and assigned him to the genin team that best suited his capabilities."

Kakashi snuck next to Kurenai and Naruto heard him whisper, "My team was short one member, so the Hokage let him join us."

Kurenai nodded in acceptance and Naruto resisted the urge to flip the silver haired Jōnin off, instead, he turned to the woman and spoke, "Well, Kurenai-sensei, I'm Naruto Uzumaki and I look forward to working with you."

He saw her eyes narrow for a split second, but it was gone as quickly as it came so he decided to just brush it off as she made her introductions. Nodding her head in greeting, she said, "I am Yūhi Kurenai, Jōnin leader of Team 8," she pointed to the boy next to her, "That's Inuzuka Kiba," said boy struck a pose, and she motioned the next one in. He was a brown haired boy in a large jacket with a high collar. His eyes were blocked by sunglasses. His Hitai-ate was tied as a headband, "That is Aburame Shino," she motioned for the next one to come in, "And this is-,"

"Hinata-chan!" Naruto yelled, glomping the object of his outburst.

Said girl turned a bright red and looked like she was about to faint. Naruto looked at her, concerned, "Hinata-chan, are you okay?" he asked, completely oblivious.

She quickly jumped to her feet and pushed Naruto away gently, blushing furiously, "I-I'm fine, N-naruto-kun," she said.

"Ara," he responded, "Is something wrong?"

Jiji chuckled again, soon escalating into full blown laughter. All the while, the oblivious blonde merely gave him a confused look.

Shino walked up to the blonde and nodded, "It's a pleasure to meet you," he said, "Hopefully our mission will go well."

Naruto stood up straight and saluted, "Yosh!"

Shino nodded again and went back to stand by Kurenai.

Finally, the Hokage pulled himself together, "Now, about your mission," he said, "You will be escorting the bridge builder Tazuna-san back to the land of wave," he waved to the door and a man walked in. He reeked of alcohol and his stance didn't suggest anything less than a heavy drinker.

Tazuna sneered, "You got these brats to protect me?" he yelled, "Are you even sure that those stupid looking ones won't get killed during the first battle?"

He pointed to Kiba and Naruto which resulted in an uproar from the two and they had to be held back by the respective Jōnin.

"Maa, maa," Kakashi waved off the response while holding the angry blonde, "I assure you, you're perfectly fine," he said, "Kurenai and I are fully certified Jōnin and we will be able to help where they cannot."

He turned to the others and eye-smiled, "Well, you guys have you're mission," Meet us in front of the main gate in two hours. Pack for a long trip."

The members of Team 7 and 8 nodded and headed out to pack.

**END**

**Sorry I had to stop there. I originally planned to move straight through the Zabuza arch, but I discovered that it's easier to skip major events with chapter changes. At least that means you got this update sooner. I decided to throw a wrench in the works. That's right, Team 7 AND Team 8. If it has been done before, I don't know, I have not read it otherwhere, so I think I am genius for coming up with it. All I know is this.  
Zabuza's getting his ass handed to him.  
I just don't know how. I just have to figure something out.**

**In the meantime, Eh heheh… -_-" I was told that the last chapter had fluff in it…  
I don't know what that means… Does someone want to help a poor unknowing student of the world of fanfiction? Is it negative? Should I fix that?**

**Anywho, the next chapter should be up… soonish.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.****  
****A.N. A special shout out to ****Theia Pallast-senpai and xSmittenKittenx-senpai. These two admirable individuals kindly advised me on what fluff was. I ****always thought I was just something that wasted time…y'know, like filler, but the review I got didn't make it seem like fluff was bad, so it threw off my definition. Again, thanks, you guys rock! Anywho, on with this crap… -**

**Chapter 5**

Hinata tried the best she could to hide the apprehension as they made their way along the road to Nami no Kuni. It was her first shot at a C-rank mission had to do her best to keep from trembling in fear. Her worries soon grew as questions continued to shoot through her mind. What if they were attacked? What if she slowed them down and someone was injured? What if someone died? What if she messed up?

She was brought from her panic attack as she felt a warm hand on her shoulder. She looked back timidly to be met with Naruto's warm smile. As she stared into his concerned eyes, she had to fight the unconsciousness that threatened to overtake her. She would not faint in front of him. Now wasn't the time. She closed her eyes and shook her head in an attempt to clear her thoughts.

"Hinata-chan, Daijōbu?" he asked kindly. (**1**)

She saw the concern only intensify from her silence, so she fought off another wave of unconsciousness and gave a weak smile, "I'm f-fine," she said, "Th-thank you for your concern, though,"

Naruto looked at her skeptically and put his hands on his hips, "You're doubting yourself again, aren't you?" her stunned silence seemed to be enough of an answer, so he reached over to pat her on the shoulder again, "It'll be fine, Hinata-chan," he said soothingly and a blush lit up her face.

He tilted his head, "Ara, you're turning red, Hinata-chan, are you sick?"

She quickly shook her head, not trusting her voice.

Naruto just gave her another warm smile and she felt her heart drop, "There's no need to be nervous," he said, "I mean, I know that it's our first time out of the village, but that doesn't mean we'll automatically run into trouble.

Hinata started to feel better from his words, so she straightened up, gave a weak smile, and offered a quiet "Thank you."

She made a move to go on, but she was stopped by her friend's hand on her shoulder, but this time, the air held a more serious feel and he had a stern look on his face, "Hinata-chan," he began, Can you check to see what's wrong with the area ahead of us?"

Naruto's question made everyone else stop and look at him curiously. Because he was staring at Hinata, she could feel their gazes move to her and she fought back a shudder, "Wh-what do you mean, Naruto-kun?"

The blonde ninja just smiled, "I mean, there's something wrong with the path in front of us, but I need you to double check for me because only you can."

Hinata shot him a curious look, and then moved to the path. There was nothing wrong with the trees along the way, there was no cloud in the sky, and the path was clear except for the puddle.

She stopped.

Wait…why would there be a puddle when the sky is completely clear and there is no sign of a storm having been through? In reality, that puddle shouldn't be there, but why did he say only she could check? Suddenly it hit her. She had something he didn't, her byakugan. She quickly activated it and scanned the puddle and gasped.

"What's wrong, Hinata-chan?" his eyes narrowed.

"It doesn't make since for there to be a puddle there, so I checked it with my byakugan and there seems to be chakra coming from it!"

This made everyone jump to attention, but before any could react, two chains shot out of the puddle and wrapped around the Jōnin, their crushed bodies fell to the ground. Two ninja stepped out of the puddle and one spoke in a menacing voice, "Two down," he said.

Hinata was filled with fear as they headed towards them, but she knew what she was expected to do, so she motioned to Sakura and Shino and they each got in front of Tazuna.

She looked in apprehension as Naruto pulled out his Ninjato and rushed toward one of the men. She was surprised when the man actually ran past him and started toward Tazuna, and in turn, her. She saw him coming toward her, but due to his speed, there was no way she was going to be able to block the claw coming straight for her.

She stood her guard, her heart dropping as he neared. She readied her body so that he could try to lessen the blow, but she knew it would probably be futile. She grit her teeth, but before he could strike her, she felt a warm body push into her and she heard a yelp of pain as she was thrown off to the side. She looked up in horror to see that Naruto had pushed her out of the way of the charging ninja. He now lay on the ground nursing his side, which seemed to have taken the claw in her stead.

She looked at her injured savior and turned red again. This time, however, she didn't need to fight the waves of unconsciousness. Instead, she found herself experiencing something she rarely felt.

She was royally pissed.

She moved quickly and sent a Jūken strike strait to the attacker's heart, killing him instantly. Quickly after dispatching the enemy, she ran to the downed blonde to make sure he was okay. She saw the heavy wound and quickly reached into her pack and brought out some gauze, quickly wrapping his side. It looked pretty bad, so she had to act fast. After dressing the wound and making sure that her fallen comrade was alright for now, she looked up to see their two instructors over the other attacker, who was unconscious, a little drool dribbled from his mouth.

_Genjutsu _She thought _Thank goodness we don't have to worry about him anymore._

After tying up the ninja, Kakashi quickly made his way over to the blonde who slowly sat up, "What happened?" asked the Cyclops.

Naruto winced and looked up his teacher sheepishly, "I kind of got excited when I saw him attacking Hinata-chan," he chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck.

Kakashi was interrupted from his interrogation when Kurenai spoke, "Wait a minute, those were the demon brothers of the mist," she turned to Tazuna who started sweating bullets, "We were unaware that you were being targeted by missing nin."

Kakashi narrowed his eye, "You've got some explaining to do," he said gravely. (**2**)

Tazuna only seemed to sweat more. Eventually, though, he broke down and told of how he had lied about the mission. He said that Nami no Kuni was too poor to pay for an A-rank or a B-rank mission. Because of the deceit and the injuring of one of his students, Kakashi decided that they were going back to the village.

Tazuna, at hearing this, begged for them to still help and he would give them an I.O.U. When that didn't work, he made a low blow about how his poor daughter and grandson would be alone without him. This caused Hinata and Sakura to break down in tears, begging to help him.

Kakashi sighed and turned to Naruto, "What do you think?" he asked the blonde, "You are injured after all,"

Naruto just waved it off, "It'll be fine," he said, "It'll probably heal up in a couple hours. I heal fast"

Kakashi sighed and nodded, "Alright, fine," he said, "Unfortunately, those ninja had poison on their weapons, so we need to do something about that quickly."

Just as the words left his mouth, Naruto collapsed in a heap, wheezing. The others looked down at him with concern and he just sent them a weak smile, "I know this poison," he said through breaths, "I have an antidote in my pack, it's the one on the far left."

As Hinata bent down to get and apply the antidote, she heard Kiba behind her, "Do you carry antidotes for a lot of poisons in your case?"

Naruto chuckled weakly, "Naw, just the basic ones. The others are hard to store safely."

After Hinata finished with the antidote, she moved to help the Blonde up and she let him lean on her. She smiled proudly as she didn't faint this time.

The quietly made their way to Nami no Kuni.

**END**

**That is it… Please don't judge too harshly on how it is. Remember, I am just kinda wingin' it, and I'll try to make up for it with humor. I am in dire need of critique because I read what I write, I love it, I publish it, I reread it, and I regret ever putting it up... Being an author in training is tough work.**

**I decided to go against my original plan and I'm going to break up the Zabuza arc. I know I just wanted to get it out all at once, but because school is ending, my access to a word processor will be limited. I only have a few hours on the computer at school to work.**

**1 - ****For the record,** **Daijōbu means he's asking if she's o.k. That was the first Japanese word I learned from anime, so I just wanted to use it. Reel smooth-like.**

**2 - I was tempted to have Kakashi say, "You got some 'splainin' ta do" you know, like that funny line from that one movie, but I decide against it. I looked up what a crack fic was and I don't want any part of that.**

**For the parings, I am going for like in the actual story. He's going to gather a harem of one-sided love while he remains oblivious…unless I get enough negative feedback against that. The idea just makes me laugh. I think that means there might be more fluff, though. The chicks are going to dig him and he's going to end up in a deep hole and have no idea why.**

**AAAAAUUGGHHHH! I forgot the freakin' lower than trash saying! Now they have no reason to stay with Kakashi when he gets caught by Zabuza! Damn it.**

**Heh, I add to the author's note as I write the chapter, so the subjects will bounce around a bit. Like, I wrote the first paragraph of the story and moved down and wrote the first paragraph of the author's note, then I wrote more of the story and I wrote more of the author's note. The only thing that was planned ahead for this author's note is that annoying anywho crap.**

**Anywho, read and review! Fav-or-it if it's your fancy!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto**

**Chapter 6**

Naruto looked over to Hinata as they made their way down the path. He was curious why she looked away from him as he put his weight on her, but with thought. He noticed that she was turning red again, too. He really hoped she wasn't getting sick. As he thought more about it, it seemed that it more likely had to do with her nerves. She always did have trouble with her confidence.

Therefore, he decided to try to cheer her up, "Don't worry, Hinata-chan," he said, causing her to look over at him curiously, "It'll be alright," she tilted her head questioningly in response, so he continued, "You're thinking of your first kill, right? That's probably why you're so nervous."

When the words left his mouth, the color drained from Hinata's face and she began to tremble more, "Y-you're right. I d-didn't even think of th-that!"

Naruto frowned, "Then what were you thinking of?"

She mumbled quietly, but Naruto didn't hear her, so he pressed his ear up against her face. He curiously noted how her face turned red as he did it, but he continued none the less. When she seemed to realize that he wasn't going to let up, she used a louder voice, "I said that I w-was w-worried about you." She said.

Naruto just gave her a big smile and she flushed again, "Aw, thanks, Hinata-chan," he said happily. As he walked, he began to feel his strength return, so he slowly pushed off of her and put his weight on his feet. After wobbling a little, he stood up straight again, "Phew, that's better," he said brightly.

Kurenai looked at him warily, "Are you sure you're okay?" She asked, "We've only been traveling for about an hour."

Naruto stood up and brushed imaginary dirt off of his bright orange jumpsuit, smiling confidently, "I got this," he said. He smiled again, but it soon shifted to a grimace and his tone became more serious, "More importantly, if Gato is sending ninja, there's a really good chance that he's going to send more powerful ones than the demon brothers. We will need a plan to prepare for it.

Kakashi gave a skeptical look, "And what would you suggest we do about it?"

Naruto just gave him a wicked grin that made everyone shudder, "I have an idea," he said.

**XxOxX**

Momochi Zabuza sat by his blade as he waited for the bridge builder to come down the path. Hopefully after this job, he and Haku could go somewhere for a real vacation. Maybe Nami no Kudamono, that was supposed to be a nice place to relax. With what Gato was going to pay them, they could go to the moon if they wanted. However, now he was stuck waiting for the decrepit old Tazuna to make his appearance.

He waited in anticipation as the man came closer, but he was surprised by the others he saw. There seemed to be five other ninja surrounding him. He looked at their Hitai-ates and cursed to see the symbol for Konohagakure. What's worse is that he recognized one as the copy nin Kakashi of the sharingan. What was strange, though, was that they had a second civilian with them. He seemed to cling to Tazuna as if his life depended on it. He looked incredibly nervous, and the chakra signature coming off him couldn't have been higher than a civilian. He didn't even show signs of being in the academy. He was dressed in rags similar to Tazuna and he didn't seem to have anything threatening on him. Having an unarmed civilian increased is chances because they would be stuck protecting two people instead of just one. He could use that to his advantage.

What he was worried about, though, was that Konoha shinobi usually traveled in groups of three, and they seemed to be missing one. However, with closer inspection, he noticed that one of the girls was carrying two backpacks and it looked to have a little blood on it.

Thinking back, he guessed that sending the Demon brothers to weaken them might have actually been a good idea. Apparently, they had already killed a ninja, and the civilian boy seemed to be injured as well, so he could only hinder them. This was going to be easier than he thought. He chuckled to himself.

Suddenly, he was pulled from his musing as a kunai was launched straight for him and he was forced to do a kawarimi with one of Haku's nearby rabbits. Unfortunately, he switched with the wrong rabbit, and the fact that they found it wasn't indigenous to Nami no Kuni, meant that they were put on guard and the copy nin and the other Jōnin stood in front of the others and pulled out kunais.

The demon of the mist sighed at his simple mistake and readied his blade. It looked like it was time to play the crowd. With a quick flick of the wrist, he sent Kubikiribōchō sailing towards them and he was disappointed to see that all of them ducked before the massive blade sailed over them. Sighing again, he quickly shushined on top of the sword and looked down at the trembling genin menacingly.

He then decided to take a shot at shooting the confidence of the little brats. He began to compare them those in the bingo book and he took sadistic pleasure when he saw the blue-haired girl shrink further. To clinch it, he brought up his graduation ceremony and described how he killed all of his graduating class. When he made sure they were at his full mercy, he released a large amount of killing intent.

He loved watching how scared the two girls were. He was also enjoying the fact that the civilian boy seemed to be trembling in fear. The two Jōnin jumped and prepared to attack.

Zabuza just looks at the two and chuckles before doing the necessary hand signs and calling out, "Kirigakure no jutsu!"

He chuckled again as the mist spread over everyone. Because this was a genjutsu, it allowed him to see through the mist while others could not, so the looks of fear on the genin were priceless. Also, he put enough chakra into the Genjutsu that even the byakugan would have trouble seeing through it.

He looked to see how the Jōnin were reacting, but he was surprised to see the woman smiling as she brought her hands together in the ram sign and shouted, "Kai!"

Suddenly, the mist cleared and they all seemed to be out in the open. Damn, she was good with genjutsu, so that meant that he wouldn't be getting anywhere with that. He was going to create another Mizu Bunshin, but he was stopped when a vine came out of the ground and wrapped around his wrist. This was then followed by many more vines that tied him down further. As he was being held down, another plant grew in front of him and it sprouted a blooming flower that opened to reveal the woman and the plant propelled her forward and she aimed her kunai toward his chest. When she plunged it, he smirked as he melted into water and splashed down on the ground.

"It's over," he said as he swung his blade toward the woman. She brought her kunai up in time to divert the blade's aim and speed, and it slowed down enough to puncture her side without the wound being fatal.

He kicked her so that she fell off of his blade and rolled to the side. When he stood up again, he felt as if he had used more chakra than usual, but he decided to ignore it for now. It wouldn't take much to finish off copycat Kakashi and his ninja brats.

He quickly turned to said copycat and prepared to battle.

**XxOxX**

Haku was jumping toward his master with worry. How long does it take to assassinate one lousy bridge builder? He bounced through the trees as he heard the loud explosions of the Suiryūdan (**1**) crashing through the forest. He quickly made it to the clearing to see Zabuza in battle with a ninja while four children stood next to the bridge builder. From the looks of it, three of them were ninja and the fourth was a civilian.

He was about to send his senbon and put Zabuza to "death," but he was stopped when he heard a scream. He whipped his head toward Zabuza to see him covered in what looked to be a large group of beetles. He frowned, if those were causing Zabuza-sama trouble, then he should probably be careful. He decided to play it safe by doing what he could to get the man away from the enemy.

He quickly made hand signs to create his ice mirrors and created one behind Tazuna. He reached for the old man, but the civilian boy saw him coming and pushed Tazuna out of the way, and Haku grabbed the kid instead. It wasn't difficult to restrain the child because he seemed to be already injured, so Haku didn't need to actually do harm to him.

Haku spoke in a powerful voice that caught the other's attention, "Stop right there, or I'll kill this child before me." He said.

The pink haired girl's eyes switched between Haku and his captive before she fell to her knees trembling. The Blue haired girl cried out his name, which Haku heard as "Naruto," before she too sank down in defeat. As they focused on him, Haku created a second mirror behind Zabuza's body and quickly pulled himself and his captive through to the other one. He reached down and picked up Zabuza before merging back into the mirror and the three of them were transferred back to the lair. Zabuza-sama seemed uninjured by the beetles, but his chakra seemed dangerously low. Haku quickly transported to their room given by Gato, placed the unconscious boy down on the floor and Zabuza on the bed before he made his way to Gato to report. It looked like that whiney little fat man was going to get his panties in a bunch over this, but Haku had no regrets, at least he was able to save Zabuza. Not only that, they now had a hostage to bargain with. He just somehow had to convince Zabuza not to kill the poor boy.

**End**

***sigh* It's short again, and I apologize, but I guess I'll just have to do better next time.**

**Say, Have I ever mentioned how much I love to put Japanese words in my story as if I actually know what they mean? I do…**

**1 – Water dragon**

**Ano… I 'm not sure if I should save Zabuza and Haku or kill them. It's a tough decision. What do you, my faithful viewers think? I might actually wait a few days to update. That way I can get feedback. I mean, I like Haku and all, but Zabuza's a douche, so I'm stuck. I know I can't kill off one and leave the other because Haku would go nuts. When I say I might, I mean I might not have to wait to update if I get enough answers in the allotted time. So let me know!**

**Anywho…rea* and review**


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: (insert clever joke about not owning Naruto)**

**Chapter 7**

Sakura pressed the blood soaked cloth against her temporary sensei and held back bile as the sickly woman began to gasp in pain. The large sword wound was not necessarily what she was worried about at the moment. No, what concerned her was the danger named Momochi Zabuza.

Not only had the single Jōnin seriously wounded one of their senseis, the same man had brought Kakashi to the verge of chakra exhaustion. Had it not been for Shino's bugs, Kakashi might have caused himself to pass out from overexertion.

Thankfully, though, he was able to recover surprisingly quickly, so now they were worried about the woman in front of her. She was amazed at how well Kurenai had done against a Jōnin of Zabuza's level. Kurenai-sensei was an admirable Kunoichi. Sakura continuously ran the battle through her head. Her comrades were quick to jump in the fray, but she only stood there and trembled in fear. Even Hinata stood up to Zabuza before he shared his back story.

Now she had Naruto on her conscience. Not only had she done nothing when he had been injured in the forest, she hadn't done anything when that fake hunter-nin kidnapped the poor blonde, and she hated it. When Naruto made the plan to disguise himself as a civilian, she didn't expect this to happen. She lost not only her team mate, but she failed to protect Tazuna from an attack. She had to start getting more serious if she wanted to protect her teammates like she should.

She was called from her musing as Tazuna's daughter, Tsunami, called her to dinner. Kurenai was able to move, so she leaned on Sakura as they made their way to the dinner. Sakura gently set her patient down on a mat as she sat on her own.

Suddenly, a small boy appeared at the head of the table, "You should leave," he told them in a dead voice. "You'll just die if you stay here. Gato always wins." After delivering the message, he made way upstairs and closed his door, leaving the others just to gape at the area where he just stood.

Kiba didn't take this well. Some kid just thinking he could come in and say something like that without even introducing himself or offering an explanation and then he had the nerve to leave so Kiba couldn't defend himself.

Tsunami had apologized profusely for her son's rudeness, which made Kiba even more annoyed with the kid. The idea that he would just act rude and leave it for his mom to clean up his mess was disgusting. Then Tazuna had told them the story of how the boy, Inari, had an adoptive father, Kaiza, who had been a hero in the village and who had a strong bond with the boy.

When Tazuna explained that Kaiza had been falsely accused and then executed in front of the entire village, including Inari, Hinata and Sakura had gotten teary-eyed, but Kiba had grown even more annoyed with the boy. Not only had he meekly accepted the murder of his father, instead of doing something about it, he took it out on them.

He'd expressed his feelings and received a shocked look from Hinata, a punch from Sakura, and an annoyingly calm explanation from Shino that Inari had no training in anything that would allow him to do something about it. Kiba just ignored the explanation in favor of stewing in his own frustrations.

So now, as they sat at the dinner table eating their food, Kiba couldn't help but glare at the little boy who was quietly eating his rice with the appearance of a corpse. His depression and lack of hope was unsettling.

"Give up on anything new today, kid?" he asked.

"Shut up," Inari sighed with barely any effort.

"Leave him alone, Kiba," Kurenai warned from across the table.

"Sorry, sensei," he sighed, "I just can't understand someone who'd give up so easily. You'd think he wasn't even angry at the people who killed his father. I mean, if it was me," he continued, fueled by his frustration, "I wouldn't lie down like a dog," Akamaru looked up at his partner with worry, "I would fight back, but maybe he didn't really like his da—"

"I didn't!" Inari shouted before Kiba could finish, "I didn't like him! I don't care that he's dead! And I definitely won't care when you're dead either!" And then the boy turned and fled upstairs, tears streaking down his cheeks.

Everyone stared after the boy and then turned to Kiba, who looked sheepish. He looked down sadly, "Sorry," he whispered, "I didn't mean to push it that far," he looked up pleadingly at his sensei with pleading eyes, "It was just so frustrating."

Kurenai just sighed at her student, "Kiba, you should really assess the situation more next time before exploding. That poor child is in mourning, and while I don't necessarily agree with the way he's handling it, I also can't say I agree with your way with handling him."

Sakura could feel the conversation going a little downhill, so she motioned to Hinata and they made their way upstairs to their shared room. As they passed Inari's room, they couldn't help but hear the soft weeping coming from the small boy.

Each quiet sob pulled at Sakura's heartstrings. She motioned to Hinata, who also looked touched and they slowly made their way to the door. They had both lost a parent, so they knew how hard it was to grieve alone.

Sakura quietly knocked on the door and peeked into the room. She looked at the trembling child and quietly asked, "Inari-kun… Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," he lied, quickly wiping at his tears away before he could be seen.

The girls watched him for a moment longer and then tentatively stepped closer and sat down next to him on his bed. "Y-you must… m-miss him," Hinata whispered, trying to tread as carefully as possible.

Inari seemed to tense up, "Who?" he feigned ignorance.

"Your father," she continued.

"I don't miss him!" he snapped, his eyes suddenly becoming glassy as more tears welled up, "He was nothing but a liar."

Sakura was taken aback, "What do you mean?"

Inari's face twisted as he fought down a sob that was trying to come out. "He promised me that he'd always be there for me, but he lied! He can't anyone because he's dead… and you'll die too if you try to fight Gato!"

Hinata was silent for a long time, trying to think of something to say, but finding nothing that seemed appropriate. Finally she reached out a tentative hand and placed it on the boy's back. He flinched away from the contact for a second, but then slowly leaned into it.

"My m-mother died w-when my sister was born," Hinata whispered as the three sat there looking out the window, "I k-know that it hurts to l-lose someone you l-love."

Inari didn't reply, instead choosing to brush his hand across his face in an attempt to wipe away tears he hoped to hide. He let himself lean more against her hand until she was practically hugging him.

"I-I don't think that s-she has gone, though. S-she's with me, I think, w-watching over me."

Sakura watched Hinata and she couldn't help but be proud of her teammate. She knew that talking about such things was a very painful act, but Hinata, shy, timid, Hinata, was able to open her wound to try to console a grieving boy. That really took courage.

And she wasn't alone, "I lost my father, too," Sakura said sadly, "When our village was destroyed by the Kyuubi, he was one of the casualties. My mom always told me how he always said that he would protect me, but after the attack, he couldn't anymore…" she trailed off and looked down, fighting the tear that threatened to come out. She instead looked up at Inari with a fire in her eyes, "Instead of grieving, though, I decided to do something about it! The day she told me about him, I decided I was going to join the academy, and be able to fight back," in her mind, she sadly thought, _and then I became a fan-girl. _She fought back the shudder, deciding to continue her claim, "He may not be able to protect me, but I will do my best to protect everyone else. So I can make him proud."

Inari snorted contemptuously. "Yeah, well, I don't think my dad is watching over me… and I doubt that I could do anything to make him proud. If I tried to stand up to Gato and his men, I'd just get killed…"

"M-maybe," Hinata conceded, "but maybe he is j-just watching and waiting f-for you to be make him proud instead of living in fear all the time."

Inari huffed indignantly, but didn't offer a counter argument, he probably didn't even care.

"I used to cry for my mother at night when no one would hear me," she began, "For a long time, I could only think of what I'd lost. Her warm smiles, the loving embrace, the feeling of safety. But slowly, I began to think not about what was gone, but instead about what I had been able to enjoy. All those memories that I had that would stay with me, the way my mother remains with me. So it wasn't as overwhelming as it had been before. It still hurt, but little by little the hurt goes away and all you have left are the good memories that make you stronger."

Sakura just stared wide eyed at Hinata. That may have been the longest he had ever heard her speak, and she didn't even stutter as she said it. Whether or not it meant anything to Inari, she couldn't say, but she felt a sense of pride with what her shy friend had managed to tell him.

She waited for a moment longer and then Hinata stood up, gave him a small bow, and then practically dragged Sakura back to their room.

From the window just below Inari's, Tsunami let out a soft sigh, having listened to the whole conversation, and then turned her sad, thoughtful eyes back to the housework that needed to be done. Upstairs, Inari sat perfectly still for a long time, thinking of things he had seen and of words spoken to him long ago by the man he loved.

**End**

**My god, that was sappy. I may have just lost some of my manliness writing that. No worries, though, I have plenty to spare. I had some trouble with the Inari scene. (I didn't exactly think that whole, getting rid of Naruto, thing through) So I decided to make a combination. Instead of Naruto making him cry and then having Kakashi explain Naruto's reasoning, I decided to make Kiba make him cry and then have the girls share empathizing thoughts with him. That would get him, right?**

…

…

**Right?**

**For that sappy crap, I had a contest with my friend to see if I could outdo her with a sad story. She was Hinata, and I was Sakura. Which do you think won? Don't answer that. We were trying to think of stuff that would relate to a boy that lost his father. When she suggested how Hinata lost her mother, I lamely suggested we throw Sakura in there. We were going to see who could come up with a better story.**

**She won.**

**I actually liked her Sappiness so much that I was unable to follow up with my own sad explanation for Sakura's grieving, so I just ended it there. In reality, Sakura's reaction was my reaction to my friend's story.**

**I have failed you... I was pointed out in this chapter that I had Sakura claim to be a ninja while she was a 7 month old baby...  
Boy, was my face red...**

**I did my best to fix it, but I worked with what I could. I give a reluctant shout out to InARealPickle-senpai. I say reluctant because this individual did not should happy about the mistakes I made and had a negative feel to their reviews, so I doubt that they will read this again, but it was still appreciated that they gave the critique.**

**I know that this is just filler crap, but I decided to add it while I wait to decide whether or not I should kill off those schmupps that kidnapped Naruto. Damn schmupps.**

**Anywho…re** and review****. Please! I don't know how long I can keep Naruto from killing Zabuza in his sleep!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: (insert stupid joke about not owning Naruto)  
A.N. For the record, I know what schmupps are and that I used the term the wrong way in the last chapter. Well, here you go, now you get to see if Zabuza and Haku die.**

**Chapter 8**

Naruto fingered the poison laced senbon as he stared down at the unconscious form of Momochi Zabuza. He had already injected Haku with his poison, so he just had to finish with the man in front of him.

What better time to do it than before the demon of the mist could completely recover from chakra exhaustion? With a quick flick of the wrist, he threw the senbon so that it aimed for the point that would quickly send the poison through the blood stream. As soon as the senbon hit, Zabuza shot up weakly and reached for his sword, but the poison was fast acting, so the paralysis won over and he fell back down.

Zabuza narrowed his eyes, weakly speaking, "Damn, I was taken out by a mere civilian. I'm losing my touch," with that, he fell unconscious.

Naruto gave him a wicked fox grin and sneered, "You shouldn't underestimate your opponents, Zabuza-san."

With that, he closed the door to the room and left. As he made his way down the corridor, he was sure to stay in the shadows as not to be spotted. It had been a week since he had been kidnapped and while he did regret taking out Haku and Zabuza, he knew it was necessary to complete the mission.

During his whole time at being a hostage, the demon of the mist's apprentice was actually the only person who worked for Gato that didn't treat him with outward hostility. He had talked to Haku and they had been on relatively good terms. If he didn't know that it was a tactic to get information, they might have been able to get along. If it hadn't been for Haku's occasional questions about the Konoha shinobi, he night have actually fallen for it, but unfortunately, he couldn't count his brief encounter with the Hyōton user as convincing enough to know that he would back down from Gato's job.

He had actually overheard Gato as he bragged about his "brilliant plan" to trick the missing-nin into working for him, and then when they were all weak from fighting, he would swoop in with his thugs and kill the ones that remained. When he tried to warn Zabuza, the man didn't want to hear any part of it, so Naruto was stuck with the task of putting them out of commission.

It had actually been relatively easy to gather new weapons to replace the ones he left with the others before he implemented his plan to secretly protect Tazuna disguised the bridge builder's apprentice. Sure, when he thought the plan up, he didn't expect to get kidnapped, but it looked like he got lucky.

The senbons were easy to get since Haku actually used them. With some quick fingers, he snatched a few Senbon before he could be noticed, and for the poison, it wasn't too hard to find plants indigenous to Nami no Kuni. Gathering the plants was actually a pretty nice experience.

**Flashback**

_Haku quietly leaned down to change the gauze on both Zabuza and Naruto. It seemed that the poison from the demon brothers, though already removed, had slowed down the healing process. Naruto winced as Haku applied the salve he used on the wound. After finishing the job, Haku stood up to leave and Naruto jumped to follow him._

"_So whatcha up to now?" he asked eagerly._

_Haku chuckled, "I need to go into the forest to get plants to make more ointment for your and Zabuza's wounds."_

_Naruto just scoffed and waved it off, "I'm fine. You should probably be worried more about Zabuza-oji-chan."_

_Haku sighed at the blonde's blatant disrespect of his master, but after many failed attempts to fix Naruto's attitude, he had finally given up on the lost cause, "It doesn't matter if you feel fine, you are still wounded."_

_Naruto sighed and put his hands on his hips, "So if you're going into the forest, can I join you, Haku-chan?"_

_Haku gained a tick mark and his eyebrow twitched, "I already told you, I'm a boy."_

_Naruto just burst out laughing, "I was just jokin__g, Haku-_san_," he emphasized the honorific with his eyebrows raised._

_Haku rolled his eyes and nodded, "It should be fine, as long as you don't try to escape .I don't think that Zabuza-sama would be too happy if I let a good bargaining chip go to waste."_

_Naruto pouted, "Is that all I am to you?" after a raised eyebrow, he dropped his arms, "Fine, I won't try to escape," he said, grumbling quietly about no respect._

_Haku giggled at Naruto's antics and Naruto gave him a pointed look, "You know, giggling doesn't exactly increase masculinity," he deadpanned._

_Haku just rolled his eyes, "Oh shut up and get ready so we can go get the necessary herbs."_

_Naruto snickered and put on his jacket, leaving it open so he wouldn't upset the newly applied bandages. He waited for Haku to come out in his civilian clothes, which also gave him the appearance of a girl, though he was wise to not comment on it._

_As they walked down the path away from Gato's hideout, Naruto couldn't help but voice his opinion, "So why do you hang out with Zabuza-oji-chan, anyways?" when he received a curious look, he continued, "I mean, you're so nice and gentle, while he's so…not."_

_Naruto expected Haku to explode at him for insulting his "Zabuza-sama," but he was surprised when Haku simply gave him a warm smile and chuckled, "To answer that, I have another question for you."_

_Naruto raised his eyebrow, "Okay, shoot."_

_Haku fixed him with a pointed look. "Do you have someone precious to you?"_

_Naruto smiled and thought on the subject, "Well, yeah, I have Iruka-nii and my best friend, Lee." If it weren't for them, I probably wouldn't have been able to strive as far as I've come."_

_Haku smiled again, "When you have their support, does it feel like you can do anything? It makes you feel like you don't want to do anything to disappoint them?"_

_Naruto scratched the back of his head, "Well, yeah, I guess it is kind of like that. Are you saying that Zabuza-oji-chan is _your _precious person?"_

_Haku nodded curtly, "It is when I fight for him that I am truly at my strongest."_

_Naruto looked at him funny, "But why? You are so nice and stuff, what could you possibly find out about Zabuza-oji-chan that would make him so precious?"_

_Haku chuckled again, "He saved me," Naruto said nothing, prompting him to go on, "During the war in Kirigakure, I had thought that we had escaped the slaughter off the bloodline users, but soon my father found out about me, and because of my Hyōton, he killed my mother and threw me out. I would have died like that, on the streets, if Zabuza-sama hadn't saved me."_

_Naruto just scratched his head, "Wow, I didn't think that something like that would happen. If he helped you out, I guess he won my respect," he said. He brightened and decided to change the subject, "Anyway, What do these plants look like?"_

**End of Flashback**

During the trip outside, he had found Hyotchnos. This plant was indigenous to Nami no Kuni and it had the characteristics of Strychnos (**1**), so he secretly collected it and extracted the poison from it. He had to be careful, but eventually he made a less potent poison that would paralyze for a short time. He couldn't find it in himself to kill Haku, and because Zabuza was Haku's precious person, killing him was out too. Hopefully, Zabuza wouldn't hunt him down when he woke up.

He walked further down the hallway until he came to Gato's office and he quietly snuck it. The fat man was too busy talking down to his guards to notice him, so he got a better angle and launched his more potent poison senbon, hitting Gato right in the neck.

The man died quickly of asphyxiation and Naruto used the uproar as cover to sneak out of the building. As soon as he knew he was completely out of range, he made a run for it, only slowing when he saw the town.

He went to ask directions from someone, but he was stopped by an angry voice behind him. He turned around and cursed at what he saw.

**XxOxX**

Sakura was worried. It had been a week since Naruto was taken, and while she had gained more confidence by mastering the chakra control exercise, she still felt useless whenever she was reminded of her cowardice on that day.

On a brighter note, though, it looked like Tazuna was almost finished with the bridge, so she and Hinata were assigned to go into town to get supplies. On an even brighter note, Inari seemed to warm up to them. He became a major part of their stay in Nami no Kuni. He still was a little nervous around Kiba, but he dropped all of his talk of giving up and such and because of his new attachment, he gladly accompanied them on their shopping trip.

When they finally got to town, they were surprised to see a bundle of brown raggedy clothes bouncing around and launching senbon at what looked to be very scary individuals. Sakura tried to figure out who it was, but when she saw a flash of blonde, she couldn't help but shout to him.

"Naruto!" she cried happily.

Said blonde whipped around to face her, but had to jump to the side again to dodge another swipe from a sword. He bounced back and unleashed a barrage of senbon that took out several more enemies.

"Not so fast!" one of the thugs yelled, "You destroyed our meal ticket, so after we kill you, we're going to raid that village for whatever we can find!"

Sakura gasped, but quickly signaled to Inari to run and hide. After a little protesting, he reluctantly agreed and ran back into the village.

With that, the Sakura signaled to Hinata and they jumped into battle. They kept fighting, but the wave of thugs didn't seem to end. Finally, the numbers dwindled, but there was still too many to defeat. In the end, the three genin were panting as the thugs came closer.

The thugs made to move and overwhelm the three, but they were stopped when an arrow fell and struck the ground at their feet. The leader whipped his head up and he paled when he saw that the people of the town had gathered with their own makeshift weapons.

"Not so fast!" Inari yelled from the front, a freshly fired crossbow in his hands, "If you're going to attack this village, you have to go through us!"

The thugs quickly weighed the options, and they began to rethink it. They knew they could probably take the villagers, but they would suffer many casualties. If the loses they received outweighed spoils, then the victory would be useless.

Sakura stood up, but she stopped when Naruto whispered a suggestion into her and Hinata's ears and they both smiled. With a few hand signs, there was a puff of smoke and when it cleared, it revealed ten more Hinatas and ten more Sakuras. The twenty-three ninja and the group of villagers readied themselves and all thoughts of the raid succeeding disappeared and the thugs paled and ran away with their tails between their legs.

Sakura and Hinata squealed with joy as they dispelled their bunshin and double glomped Naruto. The blonde laughed as he hit the ground. When he sat up, the girls bombarded him with questions and he did the best to give them the answers. Eventually, the love fest was broken up when Inari ran over.

"Sakura! Hinata! How'd I do?" he asked.

Sakura smiled and ruffled his hair, much to his chagrin, "You're dad would be proud," she said, and the child beamed up at her.

Eventually, they made it to Tazuna's and they exchanged stories. When he learned that Naruto killed Gato, he practically worshiped the floor that the blonde walked on. Through the rest of their stay, they worked on the bridge until it was done. When it was finally done, because he had defeated Gato, Tazuna decided to call the bridge "The Great Naruto Bridge"

As they waved goodbye and turned to head back, they were stopped by a large spike of Killer Intent. They got into an offensive stance, and they were stopped when Zabuza and Haku appeared in front of them.

Zabuza looked down at Naruto, who had changed back into his orange jumpsuit, "You mean to tell me that even with your low chakra level, you're a ninja?" he asked.

Naruto nodded, not leaving his stance.

Zabuza barked out a laugh, "That Konoha must be a tough place if it even trains civilians to be ninja," he turned to Kakashi, "I don't like to beat around the bush, so I'll just say it: I want to join your village."

Kakashi raised an eyebrow, "Interesting. First you attack me and my team, then you kidnap my comrade, and now you want to join us?"

Zabuza shrugged, "It was nothing personal, it was just a job, and I have a feeling that living in a village would probably be easier than living on the run."

Kakashi crossed his arms, "You know you would have to go to T&I and you would probably have a chakra seal for a while."

Zabuza tapped his chin, "Just another bridge to cross." He said.

Kakashi shrugged and looked at Kurenai, "It's really up to Kurenai; she's the one who was attacked."

Kurenai looked at them skeptically. Sakura knew that she recovered mostly from the attack, but she definitely wasn't at her best. She gave the two a once over before addressing her teammate, her gaze still on them, "Did they injure you at all, Naruto?" she asked.

Naruto seemed to snap his head to look at her, "Naw, they were fine. I didn't really do anything to incur their wrath until the last day, so they weren't hostile toward me."

Kurenai sighed, "We'll have to talk to Hokage-sama first, but I don't mind."

"Yes!"

Everyone turned to look at Naruto, who gave a sheepish look and rubbed the back of his neck, "What? I really like Haku-chan."

The killer intent spiked even higher and Sakura looked behind Zabuza to see a girl leering at Naruto. She was about to ask why, but then the girl spoke.

"Naruto, I would appreciate it if you would stop calling me that," it was said calmly, but Sakura could tell that it was instructions that were meant to be followed.

"What's wrong with that?" She asked innocently, "It's a nice honorific for a girl."

Haku gained a tick mark and Naruto burst out laughing. Sakura was really confused now.

"Actually…I'm a boy," _he _said.

The group, sans Naruto, Zabuza, and Kakashi stared wide eyed and their jaws dropped. (**2**)

Naruto just laughed harder until he finally fell to the ground clutching his side. Eventually, everyone just shrugged it off and they left on the path. Unfortunately for Naruto, he was laughing too hard to notice when they left, so he ended up having to sprint to catch up with them.

**Owari(**3**)**

**Well, it looks like Haku's awesomeness won out over Zabuza's douchebaggery. I hope you're happy, ya pansies. In all honesty, I absolutely hate the idea of those two joining Konoha. It's completely unrealistic for a Missing-nin that seriously injured a shinobi from a village to be accepted into that same village, but I digress. In all reality, I just want them there so that I can screw over the canon story as much as possible. That's right, they will be back.**

**The next chapter will be another movement on my pitiful attempt at character development. We'll just have to see how that goes.**

**In all honesty, I think Sakura's character is a load of lose until the last few episodes of the first part of Naruto. I plan to try to fix that.**

**And there ya go! There were just a few scenes that I couldn't stand to get rid of cause they were so influential on Naruto's character development. There was the scene with Haku that inspired Gollum to fight so much for his ring, and the Inari gathering the villagers scene, and (although it doesn't really affect his character) Naruto still got his 'F'ing bridge. Heh heh.**

**1 - For the record, I made up that Hyotchnos crap, but Strychnos is real and causes death by paralysis if the dose is strong enough.**

**2 - Kakashi wasn't affected because he had a mask to keep his jaw up and an eyepatch to keep his eyes in check**

3 – Owari means The End. I figure that since I'm already writing other Japanese crap, I might as well throw in some Japanese titles.

**Sayonara, Suckers!**

**Oh! And my chapter update will probably become more sporadic. You know, I published the last two chapters within a few hours of each other, and I will probably have trouble publishing more…no promises, though.**

**I am waiting for a certain senpai to finish…****  
****But until then…****  
****Anywho…r*** and review.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: (insert pointless joke about not owning Naruto)  
A.N. I apologize for the unrealistic joining of the Kiri missing nin and Konoha, but I need those two idiots for my storyline. If you can guess why, you will become a most revered senpai. The hint is that Konoha didn't know that Naruto was a Jinchuriki.  
**

**Chapter 9**

It was going to be a long day. Hiruzen sat at his desk attempting to cleave into the large pile of paperwork set before him. He tried to hold back the tears that threatened to spill out in mourning. If there was a true Hell, Beelzebub's choice of torture would be this. He continued to curse whoever invented paper, but he was stopped when he heard a knock at the door.

He tried to keep the defeat from his voice, "Come in!" he said. He was surprised when a bundle of orange scampered through the door and stopped at the front of his desk.

"Jiji! We finished!" Naruto gave a bright smile.

Sarutobi chuckled as the rest of the team filed into the room. At a glance, it was clear to see that this mission had done something in the like to upset the two Jōnin. The genin too, sans Naruto, looked a bit shaken up as well. He could only lean forward expectantly.

"So," he began, "How'd it go."

Kakashi sighed, "C-rank gone A-rank," he said.

With that, Sarutobi lost the joking demeanor and he regarded the Jōnin seriously, "Explain."

Kakashi explained the situation of the extra damage done by the deranged businessman. With a bit of explanation, he also told of the two men who wanted to join Konoha. As the briefing ended, he sent the teams to get paid and motioned for the two missing-nin to enter.

"Present yourselves," he said.

Zabuza stepped forward and nodded, "I am Momochi Zabuza, missing-nin from Kirigakure. This is my apprentice, Haku of the Yuki clan." He motioned and the boy stepped forward, "We were hoping for resignation into Konoha so we can shove off the title of missing-nin."

Sarutobi raised an eyebrow at Zabuza as he spoke, "And why have you decide to do this now of all times?"

Zabuza looked back at him pointedly, "In all honesty, we weren't really presented with the opportunity before."

The Hokage leaned forward and sighed, "Alright, but you are both required to be taken to T&I for interrogation, you will both have a seal to lower your chakra label and you will be put on a probationary period. Zabuza, for your reputation as a missing-nin, will receive an eight moth probation and you, Haku, because less is known, you will receive a four month probation. When it is over, Zabuza, you will be given the title of Tokubetsu Jōnin and will be able to advance to Jōnin if you so desire, but you must take necessary requirements. You, Haku shall receive the title of Chuninand the same opportunities will be present. "

Zabuza nodded, "Thank you, Hokage-sama."

He was ushered out and Sarutobi looked down to his desk. It looked like his paperwork workload just got worse. Not only had he given out a mislabeled mission, now he had two new ninja to set up.

Yup, it was going to be a long day.

**XxOxX**

"So what do you guys say that we go to Ichiraku's to celebrate?" Naruto asked expectantly as his teammates turned to leave the Hokage tower. When they all gave him a scrunched look, he added quickly, "I'll pay!"

Sasuke grunted, "No thanks, Dobe-"

"Teme!"

"-but I think I'll go home and rest so that I can get up early and practice my newly activated sharingan."

Sakura sighed, "I'm sorry Naruto, but I need to improve my progress as a Kunoichi, so I was going to head to the hospital since Kurenai-sensei suggested I put my good chakra control to use and become an iryonin," she actually looked regretful, "Maybe next time, ne?"

Naruto visibly deflated and turned to Team 8, "How about you guys? I still have yet to actually meet you."

"Y-yes!" Hinata agree a bit too quickly.

Kiba scratched his cheek, "I guess if you're paying, how can I pass a chance up like that?"

Shino gave a shrug and nodded his head toward the restaurant of all the hype.

Naruto was giddy as he and the genin of Team 8 left toward his favorite restaurant. He would have invited Kurenai and Kakashi- senseis, but they had already left due to some business crap. As he slid into one side of the booth, the other three went to the other side. Sino went in first, followed by Hinata who sat across from him, and then Kiba.

Before anyone could say anything, Ayame scampered over and held up a pen and pad, "So, Naruto-kun, I see you've kidnapped hostages today. I thought you said that your team always turned down your invitations."

Naruto tried to wave frantically at her to get her to stop, but it was too late, the damage had been done. Kiba raised an eyebrow.

"What the hell does she mean, 'always turned down your invitations?' How many times exactly have you tried to bring your team here?"

Naruto scratched the back of his head and gave a sheepish grin, "Well, it's just been a few times. I mean, I've invited them every day that we finished a batch of D-rank missions."

Kiba raised an eyebrow, "And how many times would that be?"

Naruto tried to hide his eyes as he answered, "sixteen times."

Kiba looked at him wide eyed, "Holy shit! You don't give up, do you?"

He was going to continue, but he was stopped when Shino reached over and smacked the back of Kiba's head. Kiba shot him a glare, but when he saw how uncomfortable Hinata seemed to be by his exclaimed obscenity, he gave a sheepish look, "Sorry about that, Hinata. I meant 'Holy cow.'"

She nodded a thanks and he continued, turning to Naruto, "Anyway, it doesn't make much since that you would be turned down so much. I mean, they're your teammates, right?"

Naruto just smiled, touched by his concern. Unfortunately, from what he'd seen from Kiba on their way there, he didn't do mushy feely type crap, so in order to steer to a more appropriate subject he shrugged it off and said, "It's alright, I'll get them eventually, but that's not what we are gathered here together for. What did you think of the mission?"

Kiba howled in excitement, obviously pleased with the subject change, "Hell yeah!" he glanced at Hinata, "I mean…Heck yeah! I was so awesome! I was able to get the chakra exercise down before the week was over!"

Naruto raised a brow, "Since when do you correct your obscene outbursts just because of Hinata? I mean, it's not like it's a bad thing, but I kinda liked your quirky outbursts."

Kiba scratched the back of his head, "Well, now that's a difficult dilemma."

Surprisingly, it was Shino who explained, "While you were gone with Zabuza-san, we kind of came to a mutual understanding."

"Ara?" Naruto scratched his head.

**Flashback**

_Shino sighed as he made his attempt at climbing the tree. What was it about this lousy training exercise that he found so difficult? He had been working at it for the past few hours and he had only managed to get up a few steps. However, before he could get too upset, he decided to take his sensei's advice._

_He closed his eyes behind his sunglasses and took a deep breath to clear his mind. After a few more deep breaths, he ran up the tree and stuck. He was staying for a while, but he was starting to slip. He made to adjust his chakra output to compensate so he could stay up, but his concentration was shattered as shouting was heard from the distance and he fell on his butt._

_He dusted off his pants and made his way over to his teammates to see what Kiba was screaming about this time. From the sound of his yells, it seemed like his canine teammate had finally snapped under the frustration and he was taking it out on whoever was unlucky enough to be near him._

_He made it to the clearing in time to see Sakura standing protectively over a sniffling Hinata. Quickly reacting on instinct, he ran out and jumped in front of the two, effectively cutting the confrontation off as best he could._

_Suddenly Hinata looked up in tears, "You don't e-even know him! How can y-you speak so badly about him when he sacrificed himself to s-save someone?"_

_Kiba merely sneered, "That to the side, his easy capture was enough to prove that he was just some weakling that shouldn't have come onto this mission. It was too difficult for him!"_

_Finally, Hinata seemed to break under Kiba's harsh words, and she ran away in tears. Sakura ran after their blue haired friend and Shino sent the cause of distress a harsh glare._

"_What happened?" he asked._

_Kiba scratched the back of his head and sent a sheepish look, "I'm sorry! I just kinda got so frustrated about the chakra exercise and Hinata wouldn't stop worrying about Naruto, so I attacked the subject of her rambling."_

_Shino raised a brow, "And what gave you the idea that that wouldn't have any negative repercussions at all?"_

_Kiba scratched his head and gave another sheepish look and said, "What's that mean?"_

_Shino sweat dropped, "Did you think she wouldn't react badly?"_

_The other boy sighed, "In a way, yes I did, but I didn't know my comment would hurt her so bad."_

_Shino gave him a deadpanned look, "Did you not remember that day when she came back in a much better mood and talked about her 'new blonde friend' that came to help her and he helped her get some of her confidence up?"_

_Kiba blanched, "You mean Naruto was 'that blonde?' What the hell! Why didn't you tell me?"_

_Shino had to stop himself from face-palming, "It was obvious," he said in his normal stoic voice, though it took some effort to keep it as such._

_Shino followed Kiba as he ran to find Hinata. He was actually proud to see his rather brash teammate humbled as he beg for forgiveness from the Hyūga heiress as she frantically tried to get him to stop. Finally, after a few minutes and explanations, Kiba apologized to Hinata and he promised to be more wary of her feelings in the future._

**End of Flashback**

Naruto smiled, "Wow, Dog-breath, you've really come far!"

Kiba rubbed the area below his nose and smiled, "Thanks, man! I-," he paused, "What'd you call me!" he yelled.

After a little more teasing, the rest of the conversation had gone pretty well. They each finished their food and shared stories of similar D-rank missions and their equal dislike of "Tora the Cat." They eventually left the restaurant with full bellies and they could relate to each other a little bit more.

As He left the building, Naruto couldn't help but think to himself, _Gee, I haven't visited Lee for at least a week, maybe we can hang out tomorrow. _While he seemed to think those thoughts, it was merely a way to fool himself, for in actuality, he real feelings were, _maybe we can spar tomorrow._

Naruto smiled as he entered his midsized apartment and went up to his room. After changing into his jammies, he leaped onto his bed and was asleep before his head hit the pillow.

**Owari**

**There we go. I made Kiba less of an ass and gave Hinata more confidence. Take that, Canon! Shino will remain just as awesome as he was, with a few slight modifications…like he'll start getting better at taijutsu sooner.**

**Only time will tell.**

**Anywho…**** and review.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: (insert mortifying joke about not owning Naruto)  
**

**Chapter 10**

Sarutobi sat at his desk, cursing the gods of paperwork again. The orders for missions had been filling up and all the chūnin had already left the village. Now he was left with an unreasonable amount of C-ranks and no one to hire for them. His thoughts automatically went to the idea of getting genin to be hired, but he quickly brushed that thought aside before it could multiply.

Unfortunately, with each passing page requesting for an escort mission and bandit assassination, he finally gave in, but he decided to make it easier for the genin to adjust. Because team 7 and 8 had already completed more than their first C-rank mission, then a joint mission between 7 and 10 should be fair, and team 8 should be able to handle a C-rank mission on their own.

He chuckled as his thoughts drifted to a certain blonde haired knucklehead. He couldn't help but wonder how Naruto would respond to the news that he was going to be assigned to another C-rank mission.

He could only hope said knucklehead would handle it maturely.

He was cut from his thoughts as a knock came at the door.

"Come in," he called gruffly.

To his surprise, the object of his musing walked into the door in the form of Team 7. He clasped his hands together and leaned in towards them, "Good to see you, I was just thinking about your assignment today."

Naruto perked up, "What, Old man, did you finally realize how amazing I am? It's a B-rank this time, right? No! An A-rank?"

Hiruzen chuckled as Sakura reached over and smacked Naruto, "No, I'm afraid not," he began, "but I have decided that from yours and Team 8's …uh… experience you all have done enough to gain seniority over your graduating class. Therefore, you will be receiving a few C-rank missions along with your D-ranks."

The old Hokage barely had enough time to react before his blonde surrogate grandson exploded into a show of flailing limbs with a floppy passion. If it weren't for his screams of joy, it might be mistaken as a seizure. After this, no one in the room, sans the point of attention, could resist but face-palm.

Eventually, though, he had had enough, so he held up a hand and Naruto stopped and looked up at the old man, "I wasn't finished," he said, "While you all have seniority, that also gives you responsibilities for your other graduating team. Therefore, I am assigning you on a joint mission with team 10. With your experience, you are to help them through the mission."

As soon as the words were out, he immediately regretted it as the blonde enigma began to wring his hands together and a mischievous smile split his face, "So, what you're saying, old man, is that we have the say so on this mission? I am going to love rubbing it in Shikamaru's face!"

The old Kage finally got his bearings together and he cleared his throat, "Kakashi will be the one in charge of this mission, so you will need to answer to him for your assignments."

Naruto visually deflated and turned around and crossed his arms, grumbling quietly. Kakashi stepped forward and eye-smiled, ignoring the complaints behind him, "Understood, Hokage-sama, what will be the mission?"

He reached into his desk, pulled out a paper, and handed it to Kakashi before speaking, "The aristocrat, Nanashi Hiruki, is staying in town, and he plans to hire an escort out of town for fear of being attacked. He and his caravan will be leaving in two days, so I want you to be prepared before then."

Kakashi nodded before turning to his team, "Good, you guys need to be ready in two days, pack for a long trip, but first-," he turned back to the Hokage, "Let's get out set of D-ranks for today."

The three genin groaned.

**XxOxX**

Naruto sighed audibly. How was he supposed to know that Team Gai had already left for a C-rank mission? Now he had to wait until after his and Lee's C-rank mission for their spar. He sighed again and let his arms droop as he made his way through town.

He was surprised to see Haku sitting in a patch of grass nearby, so he decided to greet him. Haku was in his feminine civilian clothes again, so he couldn't resist the barb.

"Hey, Haku-chan!" he yelled exuberantly, "Whatcha doing?"

Haku gained a tick mark, but decided to ignore the honorific and answered anyway, "I was exploring through town. Right now, I decided to take a break."

Naruto smiled, "So how's your stay in Konoha coming so far?" he asked happily.

Haku nodded, "Really great! The townsfolk are really nice, and they don't seem to mind my blood line limit at all. The Hokage was even kind enough to set us up with an apartment."

"That's great!" Naruto yelled, "Have you talked to anyone else?"

Haku looked sheepish, "I haven't had much time."

"Naruto!"

Said blonde whipped his head to the side in time to see the Ino-Shika-Cho trio walking toward them. Ino was the one who called him, so she quickly ran up to meet him, "Who's you're friend? I haven't seen her around before."

Before Haku could correct her, Naruto held a hand up, "This is Haku-chan!" he chirped, much to the boy's chagrin.

Ino's eye's narrowed, "Is she you're girlfriend?" her gossip radar going off.

Suddenly, the area went quiet and a lone breeze blew a single leaf past them. Naruto just stared at Ino for a few solid minutes and he could tell she was getting uncomfortable. Finally, he took pity and looked down.

Ino, thinking that it was because he was ashamed that he got caught, prodded on, "It's not that bad. She's very pretty."

Finally, Naruto couldn't take it anymore and he fell onto his side laughing and gasping for breath. He was laughing so hard that he started trembling, for an added effect, he began kicking his legs.

Ino just looked confused and she turned to Haku sympathetically, "Don't feel bad, he's an idiot, you're too good for him."

Haku's face started getting blocked by all of the tick marks, but finally, he turned to the laughing Naruto and sighed, "I'm starting to think I might appear too feminine," he turned back to Ino, "I'm a boy."

Ino blanched, "I can't believe I thought you were prettier than me!" she turned to the gasping Naruto and kicked him a few times, only causing him to laugh harder. Finally, knowing she would get no reaction, she stormed off. On her way, she passed Shikamaru and Choji.

"What's wrong with the troublesome blonde?" Shikamaru drawled.

Naruto just waved it off, "It's just an embarrassing situation. I'm sure she'll be fine tomorrow," he perked up, "Speaking of which did you know we have a joint mission tomorrow?"

Shikamaru rubbed the back of his neck and yawned, "Mendokusē. I don't want to do a C-rank already. It just seems too much of a hassle."

Naruto snorted at the lazy genius's display. He would have followed up with ridicule, but he was interrupted by Choji, "More importantly, though, won't you introduce us to your friend? I haven't seen her around before."

Naruto opened his mouth, but he found it difficult to respond with Haku's hand over it, "Actually, I'm a boy," he said quickly, "I was just about to go down to the shops and see if I could get some different clothes."

Naruto smacked Haku's hand off of his mouth, "I want to come too!"

Haku raised an eyebrow, "Why?"

Naruto gave a foxy smile, "I just want to help my dear friend to shop for his new supplies!"

Suddenly, there was a sonic boom and Ino appeared right next to Shikamaru, who fell over, "Did someone say shop?" she babbled.

"Mendokusē."

"Oh, stop that, Shikamaru!" she snapped, "We have to go help the new village resident get situated!"

The rest of the afternoon consisted of the two blondes leading the Hyōton user in and out of shops, while one blonde dragged her teammates along. Aside from Shikamaru's occasional "Mendokusē," there wasn't really any happenstance. Although, Ino soon banned Naruto from suggesting outfits after he pulled out a bright orange jumpsuit similar to his own.

Eventually, they settled on a moss green, striped turtle-neck sweater and a split skirt in matching color that reached down to his knees. On the outside of that, he wore a green blue short kimono with white edges, and around his waist a green brown obi, in the same fabric as his sweater, with a fringed trail.

He also wore light brown platoon sandals with straps in the same color as his kimono, His long hair was gathered in a white bun holder tied with a green ribbon, while two locks of his hair fell loose framing his face, bound with metal hair cuffs at the ends. Haku wore his Hitai-ate as a headband.

Naruto scratched his head, "It seems familiar," he said, "It looks familiar to me, but I don't know if I've seen it before."

Haku rolled his eyes, "It's my old fighting outfit! You never saw it because I always wore civilian clothes when you saw me."

Naruto sighed, "Ah well, at least you look less girly," he said. He turned to the other and smiled, "Hey, guys! Do you want to join me at Ichiraku's for dinner?" he paused before sadly adding, "I'll pay f-"

"I'll do it!" Choji interrupted.

"Mendokusē. Sure, I'll join. You'll need help to keep Choji back."

Ino crinkled her nose, "That sounds unhealthy," she paused, "Sure, I'll join you, but I'm getting something else."

Naruto shrugged and turned to Haku, "You want to join?" he asked.

Haku looked at him curiously, "What's ramen?"

Naruto went pale, "You don't know what ramen is?"

Haku was thrown off by his reaction, so he reluctantly answered, "No."

Naruto and Choji screamed, each grabbing one of Haku's arms and they all but dragged him to the blonde's favorite restaurant, leaving Ino and Shikamaru standing and staring. They turned to look at each other and blinked, "Mendokusē. Let's go follow them before they destroy Ichiraku's."

Ino shrugged and followed the lazy genius as they made their way to the aforementioned store.

**Owari**

**Well, I had to throw this in for a few more details that needed to be filled in. Now that Haku is all snazzied up, he is ready to KILL EVERYONE.**

…**that I want. **

**I just love having Naruto point out Haku's femininity. I thoroughly enjoy using it, though I'm kinda worried I might over use it... **

**For the record, Naruto is not an idiot. I refuse to make him an idiot again. It's just a slip into his prankster mode that makes him SEEM like an idiot.**

**I really like Haku's outfit, so I made it his civilian clothes.**

**It looks like I had to put his meeting with Lee off again. Mendokusē. This is getting difficult.**

**Ah well, only time will tell.  
In the meantime…**

**Anywho…**** *nd review.**


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer: (insert psyche-damaging joke about not owning Naruto)  
**

**Chapter 11**

"YOU'RE LATE!" Naruto was unceremoniously awoken from his nap on the caravan as his louder team mate reprimanded their inpunctual instructor.

"Yo!" he gave a small wave, "Sorry, I ran into a little kid and she wouldn't let me go until I bought her a mask like mine."

Naruto raised an eyebrow, "Wait a minute," he held a hand to stop Sakura before she denied the claim, "That's a new one."

Kakashi just eye-smiled, "Isn't it?" he let a silence hang in the air before he motioned behind him. Suddenly, a red blur jumped out and a girl who looked around six years old stood up. She had bright blonde hair that was tied into twin ponytails and true to what Kakashi said, she wore a similar mask and a headband slanted as a makeshift eye-patch, making only one of her vibrant blue eyes visible.

Asuma turned from a shogi game with Shikamaru and smirked, "Who's the brat?"

Said brat puffed up her cheeks below the mask and stomped her foot cutely, "I'm not a brat!" she yelled.

Kakashi eye-smiled again, "Nanashi Hiruki sent me to pick up his daughter from the village daycare and she ended up liking my mask."

The girl scampered forward and bowed to everyone in the clearing, "Hello, I'm Nanashi Noriko!" She then went into a fit of giggles and ran up to the caravan where her father stepped out to greet her. He was an average man of average weight and build. His hair was short in a crew-cut and his green eyes twinkled as he laughed with his daughter. He was wearing a red t-shirt, white cloth pants, and a red belt that trailed off.

As the two clients were embracing and talking, Sakura turned to Naruto with an uneasy smile, "You aren't going to disguise as a civilian again are you? I don't think I could handle another fiasco like in Nami no Kuni."

Naruto merely waved it off, "No way!" He said, "With our skills, we should be able to handle a couple of crappy bandits easy," he paused, "Wait, speaking of which, how did training as a medic go?"

Sakura immediately brightened, "They were really impressed by my chakra control. They gave me a scroll to read in my free time. Speaking of which…" she trailed off as she reached into her back pocket and pulled out a scroll. With a nod of dismissal, she turned to her scroll and started reading.

Naruto shrugged. Whatever got her to stop hitting him was worth it, even if he was being ignored. He turned to Kakashi and sighed, "Can we go now?" he asked. He had been snoozing for a couple of hours, so he felt all rigid. He needed to get out and stretch his legs. As if to agree, he heard Noriko squeal in delight from inside the caravan, thus setting the start of their journey.

As they walked down the path, Ino walked up next to him and smiled, "Hey," she said happily, "I heard you telling Sakura that you weren't going to disguise as one of the caravan travelers?"

Naruto raised an eyebrow, "Yeah? So?"

Ino just smiled, "It's just that you could probably pass as a sibling to Noriko-chan. I mean, she and you both share the trait of blonde hair and blue eyes. I would volunteer myself, but her hair and eyes seem to match yours more than mine, so we probably couldn't fool bandits into thinking that way with me."

Naruto scratched his head, "If you're worried since you don't look like her, why not just use Henge no Jutsu?"

Ino slapped her forehead, "That's brilliant. Since we won't run into any ninja, we should be able to pull it off. I'll be right back."

Before he could stop her, Ino stepped into the caravan. Moments later, Noriko stepped out and walked over to him. She looked up at him with a devilish smile and stated in a copy of the six year old's voice, "Well, nii-chan, it looks like we're all set. Nanashi-san knows not to let Noriko-chan out until the trip is over."

Naruto just rolled his eyes. So much for getting to fight this time around. He turned to Kakashi pleadingly, but he just had that annoying eye-smile going on. Naruto just frowned and looked forward. One day he was going to beat him and his damn mask.

**XxOxX**

Now Senji did not consider himself the smartest man in the world, but when he saw that the man that he was hired to threaten had taken to traveling with his two children slowly walking beside the caravan, he had to wonder what he could possibly be thinking.

It was like they were just asking to be kidnapped. If it weren't for the Konoha shinobi that were walking around them, it might have been too easy. In reality, all they had to do was distract the ninja long enough to snag the kids and they would successfully have leverage over the target.

He signaled to his army of thugs behind him and they launched their attack. It took several men, but eventually they were able to distract the two Jōnin. There was no way in hell they would win the fight, but at least he was given his chance.

He quickly made his move toward the two cowering children and grabbed them both by the scruff of their necks, jumping away and leaving his comrades to fend for themselves. While he did not always like the idea of ditching team mates, it was necessary for them to succeed in the mission.

When he finally made it into the base, he opened a cage and unceremoniously tossed the brats into the cell. The boy seemed to be trying his best to shield the girl from Senji's eyes. Whenever he moved to look at her, the boy would block his view. This brat was seriously starting to piss him off. He opened the cage, reached in and grabbed his collar and dragged him away.

"Noriko!" he shouted.

"Naruto-nii-san!"

Hmm, Naruto, so that was the brat's name. It looked like he was going to get to have his fun after all. Senji chuckled as he dragged the struggling boy deeper into the base.

**Owari**

**Noriko is so cute.**

**I feel bad making Naruto a damsel in distress again, but his team seems to grow when they worry about him. Hopefully, this will be the last time he gets kidnapped…**

**Hopefully…**

**Sorry this one's a little short, but I no longer have access to the computer as freely as I would have liked.**

**C'mon! I need some feedback, yo!**

**Anywho…**** **d review.**


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer: I just read Naruto's true Nindo by Kyuubi123 and I just read the wave mission and it's set up where Team 7 and 8 go to wave! I was like WTH. I would sue!**

…**but I don't own Naruto.**

**A.N. This chapter kinda jumps around. I wasn't too sure where I was going with this. I reiterate: You guys are so doomed…  
**

**Chapter 12**

"I'm gonna KILL HIM!"

Choji didn't exactly consider himself a violent person, but when Sakura shouted that in his ear, thereby waking him from his daze, the thought had definitely presented himself.

Shikamaru sighed audibly, "Mendokusē! Shut up for a minute. I'm trying to think. I talked to our client and he said that the bandits all had a series of hideouts and the nearest one would be our best bet to find those troublesome blondes."

Sakura scratched her head, "What kinds of bandits are stupid enough to stay in the same place when people know where they are?"

"We should count ourselves lucky that they're so stupid." He said.

Sasuke interrupted, "We are still on a mission." He said, "Wait till after to go save him."

All ninja present sent him a dirty look.

Nanashi interrupted, "You know, we're almost to the village, so you could send some of your people to at least track him down…" he trailed off. He may have been only a client, but Choji could see how the affectionate blonde had grown on him in their little time together.

"I volunteer!" Sakura all but yelled, "I have the basics of medical ninjutsu down, so I could act as medic in case we need it."

Kakashi sighed, "It's surveillance only. So if you run into trouble, do not engage, get back here as soon as possible."

Shikamaru raised his hand, "I'll go too," he sighed, "I can help you find the base. I'm pretty god at that kinda stuff."

The two genin nodded to each other and they launched off in the direction that Nanashi directed.

**XxOxX **

Senji tossed the boy to the floor, smiling up at Donte, "Well, aniki, we did like you said and kidnapped Nanashi's kids. Now we have two hostages and he'll pay out the nose to get 'em back."

Done frowned, "You idiot! The boss man said that there was only the daughter! You brought a freakin' civilian to our home base!"

Senji cringed, "Oops," he said sheepishly.

Donte's frown deepened. Before Senji could react, he found Donte's fist in his stomach with enough to cause him to cough up blood.

"Oops, nothing," he sneered, "Next time listen to instructions."

Senji bowed his head, "My apologies, aniki," he said. However, this did not appease Donte and he continued to beat down on Senji. He cried out in pain until Donte had his fun and he walked out of the room, "Just throw him back in the cell with the girl, we might be able to use him."

Senji waited until Donte left completely to throw a scowl at the man. He looked back at the boy to see him cowering in fear, and for some reason, this pissed him off, "You think that'll save you?" he spat, "I'll teach you to make a mockery out of me!"

And with that, Senji released his anger out on the blonde hostage. He may not have been able to fight back against Donte, but that didn't mean he couldn't fight someone else. He gave a maddening laugh as he pulled out a knife and headed toward the boy.

**XxOxX**

Ino was a little nervous, and she had reason to be. When she had planned to disguise as Noriko-chan, she didn't expect to be captured. She just thought that she would have to distract the bad guys until Kakashi and Asuma -senseis took them out. Not only had her plans not gone as she had hoped, she had caused Naruto to get captured as well, and when he tried to protect her in case there was someone able to detect a henge, he had been dragged away.

That had been several hours ago and she still saw no sign of him. She was getting worried, so she walked up to the bars to see if she could recognize her surroundings. She was in a small stone room illuminated by torchlight. The thought of escaping was pushed back and saving Naruto took priority. She was going to make a futile attempt to break out of her cage, but she was stopped when the door to the room slammed open and the man from before came in dragging a bloody mess behind him.

With closer inspection, Ino saw, to her horror, that the mess was, in fact, Naruto. It looked like he was covered in bruised and lacerations. When the cage door was opened, his body was unceremoniously tossed into the tiny area and Ino quickly scrambled to his side.

"Nii-san!" she said in a tiny voice, "What did they do to you?"

Naruto coughed some up blood, "This ain't nothin'," he said weakly.

The man's attention switched to her, "Now, let's have a little fun with you, shall we?"

Ino stared in horror as the man crept closer to her, wondering how it all could have gone so wrong so quickly when suddenly an orange blur flew at the man and sent him off kilter

She watched as the man was sent flying into the wall and Naruto slumped down and coughed again. She ran up to his side, "Naruto-baka! What do you think you're doing? You're already injured enough!"

Naruto smiled weakly, "You can't fight in that form, or it'll be dispelled and we will blow our cover."

"Dammit, Naruto quit being a hero!"

Naruto smiled again, "I'll think about it, but for now, I just knocked out the guy who was supposed to be watching us, so let's get out while the getting's good

Ino stared at the open cell door and face-palmed, accidentally deactivating her henge. She reapplied it and they slowly made their way out. She did her best to support the other blonde as they made their way through the labyrinth of halls.

**XxOxX**

**Owari**

**So anyways, sorry it took so long to update, fanfiction . net would let me log in or something.**

**Okay, so I have been getting several favorites and story alerts as I type this chapter and suddenly, BAM! I get a favorite from a person without getting a story alert. What does that mean? I wonder if'n I should be worried. I mean, does that mean the only part they like about the story is the part I've already written?**

**To top it off, I suddenly get an alert from one of my stories that I haven't updated since I started this story, which was, like, 2 weeks ago. I didn't even know that people read the other stuff I write. I was like, Oh Em Gee.**

**Anywho…****** review.**


	13. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer: (insert dirty joke about not owning Naruto)**

**A.N. I just reread a previous chapter and I accidentally messed up with Haku. He was actually supposed to be a chūnin. I mean, I originally put chūnin, but somehow it ended up genin. It was probably a quick text error that I didn't notice in time. Anyways, for those of you who read the original chapter before it was changed and skip my author's notes, I'll throw something in the story about it so you don't feel left out and you know what's going on…**

**Chapter 13**

Sakura and Shikamaru made their way through the forest until they found themselves at what looked like a hollowed out mountain with a door. They quickly snuck into said door and made their way through the long hallway, noting the split off paths as they looked for their blonde teammates.

The halls were very monotonous and Sakura felt like she was about to tear out her hair from the sheer boredom, but she suddenly stopped.

"I smell blood…" she trailed off. This wasn't good. If the blood was so potent even she could smell it, there must have been a lot. She quickly made her way through the building until she stopped in horror and saw the trail of blood. It looked like someone had been dragged through the hallway. She kicked up her speed, making her way down the blood path until she found a small area with a cell.

She looked at Shikamaru, getting a nod and they began searching the room for any clues. She began toward the desk and started rummaging through the drawers, but she was stopped by Shikamaru's voice.

"Mendokusē."

Sakura walked over to him and gave a curious look at what he was holding. In his hand, covered in blood, was the white swirl and tassel that was on Naruto's jumpsuit.

She paled. If this hemosplosion was any indication, they needed to find Naruto fast. But she was stopped by the idea that they were ordered to come back. But what if Naruto doesn't make it since they took so long to find him? She thought to all of the times that Naruto had jumped in to help those he could while she just watched and trembled in fear. Wasn't she supposed to have changed?

She began an internal debate between her head and heart. Follow orders or save a comrade. She thought of the pros and cons of each. She was going to make a mental rundown, but she was stopped by the hand on her shoulder.

"Mendokusē, you're overthinking things. You and I both know that we're going to disobey orders to save our comrades," he paused his lazy drawl, "Ino may be annoying, but she's still my team member, and Naruto plays a mean game of shogi."

Sakura nodded her thanks and they made their way deeper into the base.

**XxOxX**

Ino did her best to support her fellow blonde as they made their way through the strenuous hallways. It was getting easier to carry him as it looked like he wasn't exaggerating when he said he healed fast. It was getting close to the point where eventually, he wouldn't even need her help to stand. Healing was really useful. Damn, she wished she had that ability.

As they walked, her mind went through the events that led them to where they were. Naruto had protected her not only once, but three times and the third time, he did it while injured. How could she possibly be able to face him again? She was such a burden. She thought back to her love rival, Sakura. Surely, even she couldn't have been so useless on her missions. She was failing to beat her, and that coupled with her guilt about causing Naruto an injury was crushing.

As she internally scolded herself, Naruto seemed to notice her worries and put a comforting hand on her shoulder. Unfortunately, he misinterpreted her anxieties, "Don't worry," he said, "Well get out of here alive. I'll make sure you're safe," as if it was a final point, he flashed a brilliant, albeit a little weaker, smile at her.

She couldn't help but feel her mood brighten at that. How could she be thinking like that at a time like this? Naruto was in trouble and he needed help. The only true way she could help him would be to stop crying and actually do something. After this mission, she vowed to be less useless. She had to admit, all her fawning over girl things did kinda hinder her progress as a Kunoichi. Not to mention her squabble over Sasuke with Sakura. That was probably her biggest mistake. She hoped they could make up and actually apply themselves.

She turned and gave her teammate a grateful grin, "Thanks for the comfort, Naruto," she said, "You really helped put me right."

The blonde boy scratched his head, "Huh?" he said curiously. Although, his moment of confusedness only seemed to last for a few seconds because he brightened up again, "Sure thing, Ino-chan! I'll beat up every bad guy that gets in our way!"

Ino rolled her eyes and smacked him in the back of the head, "Baka, stop acting so cool."

Naruto looked forward in a fake pout an shed a few crocodile tears, "Ino-chan is so mean."

She couldn't help but smile at that, but suddenly, a cold feeling washed over her and she felt her grin slip away. Suddenly, a dark blur crashed down and a created a crater. Ino had to look away to avoid the impending dust cloud.

When all the debris cleared, a man stood in the middle of the crater and smirked, "My my, it looks like the rats have gotten out of their cage." His smirk grew, "It looks like I have to do some necessary, drastic things." He pulled out a large cleaver, "I mean, your father would still pay even if you're missing a few limbs." He turned to Naruto and sneered, "You're not even supposed to b here! I'll just have to kill you and take the girl back with me!"

Ino gasped, "Don't hurt Naruto-nii-chan!"

The man just let out a bark of laughter, "I don't think you have any say in the matter!" he smiled maddeningly.

Ino frowned, looking back at Naruto. He was recovered, but not near enough to fight, so it looked like it was up to her, "Actually," she said, dropping her henge, "I do."

The man's cocky smile turned to a frown and then to a look of rage as the realization of the switch dawned on him, "You bitch! You'll pay for this!"

Ino threw one last look back at Naruto to make sure he was safe and smirked, "Bring it," she said.

**Owari**

**Sorry it took so long, but do you know how difficult it is to come up with an OC antagonist when you have no creative bone in your body? Well it's even worse when you do have a creative bone, but it's focused on something else.**

**I...have failed you. After posting this the first time, I read through it and I was ashamed at how many mistakes there were. I hope I fixed it, but I did what I couldd.**

**I'm gonna pretend I'm funny when I wrote my author notes, okay?**

**Anywho…*****e review!**


	14. Chapter 14

**Disclaimer: (insert intimidating joke about not owning Naruto)**** Come at me, bro ****ლ**** (**ಠ**_**ಠ**ლ****)**

**Chapter 14**

Shikamaru led the way as he and Sakura ran the way down the endless hallways. This whole situation was so troublesome. They had just finished searching a nearby room when they were stopped by a series of explosion in the distance. Knowing that only their team member would react so extreme to a situation only gave them more hope of the two blondes surviving.

Be that as it may, Shikamaru was no fool. If someone was initiating explosions as often as they had, it was obvious that they were in a battle. With this thought, he quickened their pace in attempts to give what assistance they could. They only went a few more meters before they found themselves in a large clearing. To his surprise, he saw that Ino and a man seemed to be locked in combat.

The man was tall and looked a bit malnourished. He had a large white shirt with a fringe around his neck with blue piping along the seams and dark blue khakis. His greasy brown hair fell down to his shoulder blades. He would have looked like just another harmless civilian if it weren't for the dangerous gleam in his brown eyes. The giant cleaver in his hand kinda helped tip them off too.

He could see from how the battle was going, the man seemed to be tiring Ino out. He relentlessly swung his sword with deadly precision and even from his position Shikamaru could tell that Ino's only available option was to dodge.

He saw Sakura beside him getting ready to jump in and help her friend/rival. He would have happily joined if he hadn't noticed the other occupant in the room. He signaled to Sakura and pointed to the wounded body.

When she looked over, she covered her mouth to stifle the gasp. Naruto was sitting against the wall panting. He was a bloody mess, covered in all sorts of cuts and bruises from who knows what. Sakura quietly made her way toward him and made a few hand signs. When she held her hands out, they glowed a pale green and she hovered over the body of their comrade.

Naruto looked up her in appreciation, "Thanks," he mumbled, "Unfortunately, Ino seems to be having trouble with Donte. He's tougher than I originally thought," he paused, "He moves around too much," he sent a devilish look to Shikamaru.

For the record, said genius didn't even react. The only way he let Naruto know what he meant was the subtle smirk he had. He went through a few hand signs and his shadow extended until it connected with Donte's and the man froze.

"Kagemane no jutsu: success," he drawled.

Ino noticed the shadow and looked back at Shikamaru with appreciation. She casually sauntered up to Donte. Before he could even growl in protest, she pulled out a kunai and plunged it into him, spreading the poison through his body.

Within minutes, the man lost consciousness, the only reason he was still standing was due to the Nara's jutsu. Shikamaru just shot her a pointed look.

She slumped down and started panting. After some assurance that he was okay, Naruto was able to convince Sakura to move to Ino and check for injuries.

The four slowly made their way out of the hideout, Shikamaru supporting Naruto and Sakura had Ino. When Naruto was finally able to move on his own, the pace quickened and they made their way up to the caravan.

After some lectures from Kakashi and Asuma on following rules immediately followed by commendations on saving comrades, the two teams were able to assure the trip for the Aristocrat until they were safely into the new town.

Choji seemed to be the main subject of all of Nanashi's praises. Apparently, they had been attacked again shortly after the departure of the two genin and the boy had fought off several enemy thugs at one.

He even put a little extra money in as to pay for the Barbeque that Choji spoke so highly of. While this surprised the plump boy, it wasn't too weird for the others. Choji was like Naruto. Once you hung around him, you couldn't help but enjoy his company, so they didn't find it so surprising.

Sasuke was a little put off because he wasn't given as much praise as Choji. He would never show it, though. He just had to simmer as he was given thanks and had his hand shaken.

Once the job was done, the eight shinobi waved goodbye to Noriko and Nanashi as they headed out the gate. When they finally got home, after meeting with the Hokage, they met up in front of the tower.

As they were leaving, Naruto had to jump out of the way so not to get trampled as Ino ran up and latched on Sasuke. When Sakura looked up from her book and noticed this, she seemed to remember their rivalry and she immediately latched onto his other arm.

Naruto looked upon the sight of the two girls begging for dates and his invitation to them to ramen died in his mouth. As much as he wanted to become closer to his teammates, he was starting to get discouraged by the constant rejection, so he turned to Shikamaru and Choji.

"Do you want to go get ramen?" he asked, sadly adding, "My treat."

Choji seemed to notice the down attitude, so he objected, "You know what, you always pay for our meals. This time, I'll pay," he paused, giving a sneaky smile, "but this time, we'll go out for barbeque. I mean, I needed to spend my gift anyways."

Naruto gave a warm smile, but he was interrupted by Sasuke. Apparently, he had had enough from Sakura and Ino.

"Enough!" he shouted, shooting an icy glare towards the two, "Why would I ever want to waste my time with weaklings like you? Why can't you get it through your heads that I will never date you?" he turned around and headed toward the Uchiha compound, "Now leave me alone. You're annoying."

Naruto looked at the reactions of the girls and he almost went after the teme and beat the crap out of him, but that would have been neither helpful nor productive. He shot a questioning glance at Choji, and when the other boy nodded, Naruto walked over to the girls.

Their eyes were welling up with unshed tears and they were standing shocked by what just happened. Clearly, their fan girl mentality never let them see how Sasuke really was. Naruto had to bite back a curse at the brooding boy, instead he put on a warm smile and stepped toward them.

"You know," he said calmly, "the offer for an after party still stands open if you two would be interested in hanging out and celebrating our win," he paused, "I know that you are both happy that you were able to help more in this mission, so improvement is a good enough reason to join together, right?"

Ino seemed to recover first. She wiped her eyes and gave a sad smile, "You're right," she turned to Sakura, and smiled, "We did improve. I mean you had medical ninjutsu, and I was able to protect Naruto until you guys came. I probably would have been trembling if it had happened before."

Sakura looked at her friend/rival and returned the smiled, "You are so right," she said quietly the two hugged and they turned to Naruto, "We would love to join you," she said.

"Yes!"

Everyone looked at the hyperactive blonde and he rubbed his neck sheepishly, "What? I really wanted to celebrate with the whole team, and now that you have agreed, I just need to get Sasuke and Kakashi."

Shikamaru rolled his eyes, "Mendokusē. One step at a time."

They laughed and headed toward Choji's favorite restaurant, sharing their opinions on the mission. When they arrived, Choji happily paid and the genin shared more about themselves and they laughed all night long.

When they were finished, they each said goodbye and ran to their respective homes. When Naruto reached his bed, he lay down and smiled. Today had been a good day, now if only he could keep it that way.

**XxOxX**

Senji made his way down the hall clutching his head. The last thing he remembered was when that stupid brat ran into him and knocked him out. When he woke up, he found himself locked in one of the cells. It took him a good two hours to pick the lock to the cell. Imagine his surprise as he was leaving when he stuck his hand in his pocket and felt the keys jingle around. This caused himself to smack his head into the wall in frustration.

Unfortunately, he hit too hard and he knocked himself out again. When he woke up, he looked at his watch and blushed when he saw that he had been out for another two hours. He was careful to let his frustration out through a long stream of curses.

When he found the clearing, he ran to Donte's downed body and checked for a pulse. Thankfully, there was still one, so it looked like whatever the brats did only stunned him. He moved his partner into a sitting position and pulled out some smelling salts.

When the older man didn't stir, Senji sat and stared at the unconscious body with a pensive look adorning his features. He was about to try hitting him, but he was stopped by a voice.

"That won't work, he's been poisoned with a paralyzing agent," he heard.

He turned toward the voice and smiled, "Yo! Boss man! Sorry, they got away, but I'm sure we can get 'em next time."

Boss man's mouth pulled up in a sneer, "There won't be a next time. You two have failed me for the last time."

With that, Boss man pulled out an unidentifiable weapon and swung it. Senji began to envy his unconscious aniki as the weapon came closer. His screams were heard miles around.

**Owari**

**Ooo a new baddie…heh heh heh I have no idea, you will have to see. Read on!**

**Anywho…**e**e review!**


	15. Chapter 15

**Disclaimer: (insert irritating joke about not owning Naruto)**

**A.N. The majority of this chapter will be a flashback, so it will remain in the normal font.**

**Chapter 15**

Naruto awoke with a yawn. It had been a few weeks since the C-rank mission with team 10 and he was happy to say that Sakura and Ino had taken their training much more seriously. They even went far enough to leave Sasuke alone after the missions. The downside was they turned their sights on him. Sakura would ask after practice and Ino would come over after her team meeting.

It wasn't that he wasn't happy that they wanted to hang out, it's was just that they always wanted to go out for ramen alone. When he agreed, they gained mischievous gleams in their eyes, which only added to his uneasiness. Sometimes they would demand his time at the same time. When they did, they would shoot glares at each other.

He was never sure why, but whenever he asked, they would turn red and start sputtering. He would often ask if they were sick, but that would just cause them to storm off in a huff. He sighed each time, deeming it a girl thing.

He stared up at the ceiling, thinking about the little fun they had as they were returning from the mission with Team 10. He would remember that for a while.

**Flashback**

Naruto held the flyer in his hands and read carefully over the announcement.

**Attention City of Tanzaku Town:**

**The bumbling brothers' caravan is happy to present a tournament of cities.**

**We invite people from all over this happy little town to a battle royal. The reward will be a cash prize and a nice, shiny, championship belt.**

**This is a taijutsu battle only. No weapons are allowed. Any other practices will result in automatic disqualification.**

**Please report to town square to sign up for the tournament.**

Naruto broke into a grin that threatened to split his face. He ran to the others and practically bounced up and down with excitement. He was starting to regret complaining when they first arrived in this town to recuperate from their travels. He showed the flyer to each person, receiving a different response from each.

"Sorry, I have to read the scrolls from the hospital to improve my jutsu."

"Maa, maa. I have to get together with Asuma so that we can finish writing up the report for the Hokage."

"No thanks, dobe-."

"Teme!"

"-but I don't want to waste my time with weaklings."

"Mendokusē. I'd rather be out cloud watching."

Choji just politely declined and Ino said she needed to work on training.

"Sorry, Naruto," Asuma said, "The absence of ninja competition in the tournament is just too easy and isn't very appealing to us."

"But," Naruto pushed, "I'm sure that it's a good way for us to train out skills. I mean, what better way than to fight against an army of martial artists?"

Asuma deadpanned, "There probably won't be any real fighters there. The idea of civilian tournaments just isn't appealing to most ninja. It will probably only be a group of ragtag thugs and fighter wannabes."

Naruto sighed, but his mention of training got the attention of one genin in the room.

Ino perked up, "I need to train," she said, "Maybe I'll join you."

Naruto smiled at her and she turned red and looked away. This caused him to panic, "Are you okay?" he said quickly, "You're turning red. Do you need to lay down?"

This caused the two Jōnin to snicker.

"No I'm fine," she said. She seemed to think of something before turning to Shikamaru, "I think you should come too," she said, "It will be more fun that way."

Shikamaru shot her a glare, but she returned it tenfold. He cringed and sighed, "Mendokusē. Fine, you troublesome woman," he smiled knowingly, "I'll make sure that Naruto doesn't fall victim to your feminine wiles."

Ino turned a brighter shade of red and started sputtering. She didn't contradict him, but Naruto still had no idea what was going on. He sighed and headed out the door, "We'll be back!" he called over his shoulder.

**XxOxX**

When they came up to the tournament arena, the three signed up and they were about to head to the benches to wait, but they were stopped by a familiar voice.

"Yosh!" someone shouted, "This tournament is most youthful! I am glad we were able to stop in this town before returning to Konoha!"

Naruto ran toward the voice and when he found the source, his jaw dropped. In the road, in all his green spandexy glory, was the bushy browed taijutsu master in training.

Neji sighed and put his face in his hands, "Would you stop being so loud? It's just a stupid civilian tournament. No one skilled will be entered."

Lee furrowed his brow, "Rival Neji! That is a most unyouthful way of speaking! If I am unable to find a good fighter here, I will do ninety-nine pushups with one hand with one hundred pounds on my back!"

Naruto sighed and walked over, "That won't be necessary, bushy brow," he said. Lee immediately spun around and upon seeing Naruto, seemed to brighten up. Naruto nodded a greeting, "Hi Lee, Tenten-senpai, Gai-sensei, and Neji-teme."

If Neji was bothered by the insult, he didn't show it. The others each bowed in greeting. Lee was the first to speak up.

"Are you three entering in the tournament as well?" he asked.

Naruto nodded, "Yup, we just finished a mission and we stumbled across it."

Lee struck a good guy pose, "Yosh! We can now test our skills in a real setting! Let us burn with the passion of youth!" he turned to Tenten and Gai, "I will be looking forward to you two watching and cheering me on!"

Tenten nodded, "Wouldn't miss it." She said.

Gai had tears in his eyes, "That is most youthful my beloved student!" he yelled.

Lee had a fire in his eyes, "Yosh! If I cannot win this tournament, I will do our next mission with five-hundred pounds of more weight!"

Naruto cringed at the declaration, but before Lee could get more out, he decided to interrupt, "Let's just start the tournament and see what happens, yeah?"

Lee saluted, "Yosh!"

When they entered the locker room for the males, Naruto had to hide his disappointment at the truth behind Asuma's statement. The group of people who were participating was indeed only thugs and wannabes. None of them looked tough enough to even catch Lee, let alone defeat him.

The names were called out, and Shikamaru was the first to go up. He quietly made his way to the stage and he stood facing a towering powerhouse. The man stood over him with a showy overly muscular build. Because of the man's size, he tried to intimidate Shikamaru, who only nodded at his efforts lazily.

He didn't respond well. He charged at the lazy genius blindly and Shikamaru simply sidestepped and stuck his foot out. The man tripped and due to his large frame, he was unable to stop his momentum and he lost because of a ring out.

Naruto snickered as Shikamaru rolled his eyes after being declare the victor and made his way to the benches. When he was sure no one he knew was up, he sprawled out on the bench and started snoozing.

Naruto rolled his eyes at the antics and watched the battles until Ino headed up. He nudged Shikamaru and the lazy boy glanced at her opponent and scoffed. The man she was fighting looked like a sumo wrestler.

As he made his way up, he gave a thunderous laugh, "Give up now, girlie," he said, "I am too big for you to take down!"

Ino sneered, "As if," she said.

He shrugged in response, charging at her. He may have been bigger, but Ino was faster. When he tried to smash where she stood, she would jump out of the way at the last minute. Finally, she came around him and delivered a powerful kick to his side, causing the fat to jiggle.

He gave another laugh, "That tickles," he said.

Ino huffed and blew a strand of hair out of her face. This time, when she ran around his punches, she jumped to the side and delivered a kick to his head, even reinforcing her leg with chakra. (**1**) When it connected, his smile dropped of his face and he crumpled to the ground.

The crowd stared in shock as the 40 kilogram girl took down a 400 kilogram fat guy. She simply dusted off her skirt at the man, ignoring the stares of disbelief as she walked down to the benches, getting a high-five from Naruto.

Naruto was up next and his opponent also towered over him, but his build was more subtle and looked about right for a shinobi, but he could tell from the man's stance that he was no trained fighter. He seemed more like a brawler.

"Give up kid!" the man laughed, "You're girlfriend may have fought well because she had chakra, but even I can tell that your chakra-system is basically nonexistent. You can't win!"

Naruto paled and brought his hands up to his face and trembled, "Y-you're wrong!" he said meekly, "I-I can beat you! I've been p-practicing!"

He slowly got into his fighting stance, ignoring the questioning looks from his friends. He visibly bit his lip and the man let out a loud cackle, "Fine, have it your way, but don't say I didn't warn you!"

He brought his fist toward the blonde at a painfully slow speed and Naruto easily ducked under it, but as he did, he let out a loud yelp and covered his head. The man sneered and continued to throw punches at Naruto and the blonde continued to duck, or jump to the side while crying out in surprise.

Although, only the three other ninja could tell that it was all an act, the man in the ring thought it was all real, as Naruto continuously danced around him, crying in fear as he dodged a sloppy punch, then a slow kick and a pitiful swipe. Naruto had to work hard to keep himself from replacing his look of fear with that of amusement. The guy just seemed to get more and more pissed off as he attacked. Finally, the man threw too wide of an attack and Naruto stepped to the side quickly, closing his eyes as he chopped the guy's neck, knocking him unconscious.

When the guy fell to the ground, Naruto opened his eyes and looked down at him fearfully, and then at the referee, who had to scramble to keep his jaw from dropping.

"The winner is Naruto!" The man said, eliciting a confused cheer from the crowd.

When Naruto left the stage, he was stopped by his Green-clad friend, "That was most unyouthful!" He said.

"But…"

"But it was funny."

"Damn straight!"

Lee smiled and did the good-guy pose, "Good job anyways! Although I shouldn't expect any less from my most heated rival!"

Naruto mimicked the pose, "Yosh! I look forward to future challenges." He looked up at the screen, hoping that Lee's match was next, but unfortunately, luck wouldn't have it, so he sighed, "Ah well, I like Shika's idea, so wake me up before your match so I can watch."

Lee smiled, "Yosh!"

Naruto joined Shikamaru on the bench and closed his eyes. It seemed like only a few moments before he felt someone tapping his shoulder. He stirred and looked up to see Lee looking down at him and smiling.

"Yosh! My match is about to start, and I cannot let my rival be so far ahead of me! If I cannot do as well as you, then I will run ninety-nine laps around the Konoha walls!"

Naruto couldn't help himself, "Yosh! I will join you! And if I cannot keep up with you, I will do ninety-nine pushups!"

"Naruto!" Lee gained tears in his eyes.

"Lee!" Naruto also let his own flow.

"Naruto!"

"Lee!"

"Naruto!"

"Lee!"

They embraced each other their tears only intensifying and Gai jumped in and did the Sunset backdrop genjutsu. Then Gai began crying and he joined the fray.

Suddenly Naruto woke up in a cold sweat. He shuddered at the dream he just had. He needed to stop watching as Lee and Guy did their whole 'springtime of youth' thing. They were starting to corrupt him. He shuddered again and looked up just as Lee's name flashed on the board.

Naruto watched as Lee kicked around the nameless fighter and sent him out of the ring. The next few battles were boring. The opponents they set up were easily defeated and soon very few remained. The contestants started getting iffy with each battle as the "children" took down opponent after opponent. The worst one seemed to be the boy who "accidentally" won every match. After he knocked out the first man, he would whimper and hide from opponents and they would each loose in strange ways. First, when an opponent charged him, he yelped and ducked; covering his head and the man tripped over him and flew out of the ring. The next was when he closed his eyes and pushed a guy away, causing said guy to lose his balance and fly out of the ring, finally, a guy was being wary of him, so he didn't attack right away, but because of that, when the boy charged, the man jumped back in surprise and fell out of the ring. All the unique wins were mildly unsettling.

Finally, it seemed to be getting to the finals and Lee was called up to do another match.

Naruto watched as Lee stepped up and a girl of equal size walked in the other side. She had long purple hair, a black long sleeve shirt and brown capris cut off at the ankles. As Lee got into his stance, she mimicked his movements and they faced each other.

Naruto whistled, "It looks like we actually have someone skilled," he said. Though he said it lightly, his two friends could sense his dark undertone. The girl gave Lee a happy look and smiled, "Let's have a good battle, kay?" she said.

"Yosh! Let us be most youthful in our endeavors!"

The girl quirked her head to the side, "Youthful? I guess you could call it that," she said, sliding her foot back and launching off as Lee did the same.

As the battle started, the two disappeared in a flash of blinding speed. The two blurs crashed into each other, sending out a blast of air and sound, each time, the two stayed still long enough to be seen and each time. Once was that of the girl blocking Lee's punch, the next was Lee blocking a punch. The two seemed to match each other, speed for speed.

"Who is this chick?" Naruto asked.

Ino looked equally impressed, "She was introduced as Tai. The way she moves is amazing. She can keep up with Lee and the seemed to be pretty evenly matched."

Naruto whistled again, but as the battle went on, the crowd and the contestants started to fidget. It seemed the continuous winnings by powerful children were finally getting to them.

One guy finally snapped and cried out, "This is too weird for me! I'm getting the hell out of here!"

That statement seemed to set off a reaction that caused the rest of the crowd to panic and run for it too. When the dust cloud cleared, everything was gone except for the rope that made the battle ring, the belt, and the prize money. Even the caravan had high-tailed it out of there.

Naruto sighed and yelled to Tai and Lee, "Yo! It's a tie! The caravan people bailed."

The two paused and Tai frowned, "Well, that's no fun," she said, turning to Lee, "I'm sorry, but I got to go now, I was only supposed to come for the competition," she paused and looked at Lee and blushed, "That was a great battle. I hope to see you later, Lee-kun," she kissed him on the cheek and ran away.

Lee turned red and tears began running down his face as if from a faucet, "Gai-sensei!" he yelled.

The aforementioned teacher appeared out of nowhere with an amused Tenten and he embraced his student with tears in his eyes, "I'm so proud!" he shouted.

**End Flashback**

Naruto looked over at the championship belt and smiled. In the end, they agreed to split the prize money between the three others while Naruto got the belt. His smile grew even larger as the sun started to rise. Now he just had a few hours to kill until it was time to meet Kakashi-sensei at the training ground. He said something about an announcement, and Naruto had to wonder if it had something to do with all those foreign ninja throughout the village. Ah well, only time would tell.

**Owari**

**I am curious…Am I going too fast? I mean, after reviewing my other chapters, I saw that they are really short, but have a lot of information in them. I mean, I have experienced that if too much time is spent on descriptions, it gets really boring, but if not enough is spent, then it leaves holes. I just want to hear from you, my readers. (no useless flames please) I 'm just not sure if I need to work on details. I was informed that I needed to describe my characters more, but that was the extent of critique.**

**1 – I mean she just reinforced her leg to make it harder. I don't mean like that chakra burst that Tsunade does. It would be cheating to add it so soon.**

**I kinda didn't plan the OC at the end until I actually got there. Hm…LeeXOC…who knows? Maybe…**

**Now for the stupid stuff…**

**I just wrote eight freakin' pages… Am I mad?**

**This may be a filler chapter, but I have wanted to add this to the story since I started this thing.**

**Have Naruto manipulate in a martial arts tournament…Check  
Naruto doing the Lee dance…Check (even if it's a dream, it still counts)**

**If I died today, I would die a happy man.**

**Also…I was checking the traffic to this story and imagine my surprise when I see that I had a view from LITHUANIA! Lithu-freakin'-ania. Another reason I would die a happy man.**

**Also, I noticed that my story is involving more blood. I mean, I read this really nice and sappy story but I can never remember what it's called, just that it has blood in the title. So I type blood into the history search bar and I got the last three chapters of this story as the top searches. That and the first chapter. For a non-talented fight scene writer like me, that's a pretty large step.**

**I digress…**

**Anywho…**ea*e review!**


	16. Chapter 16

**Disclaimer: (insert stipulating joke about not owning Naruto)**

**Chapter 16**

"Sakura-chan! Ino-chan!"

The two girls looked up to see turned to look at the blonde knucklehead as he made his way down the streets. He sped up his pace and stopped before the two, panting.

"Ohayo, Naruto-kun!" Sakura smiled and greeted for the two of them.

Naruto smiled, "Whatcha guys up to?"

"Ino and I are going shopping for supplies. We have an hour until Kakashi-sensei shows up and Ino needs help preparing for the Chunin exams."

"Ara? Chunin exams?"

Ino smiled, "It's to see if we can make it up to the next rank. Asuma-sensei nominated us and told us about it during our team meeting. Now we have three days to prepare."

"Boy that's lucky!" Naruto gave a nice guy pose, "Do you think that Kakashi-sensei will nominate us?"

Sakura gave him a sad smile, "I doubt it. Sasuke and you may be ready, but I still need practice. It wouldn't be very responsible for him to nominate us for the exams."

Naruto gave a warm grin, "Aw, don't sell yourself short! If you hadn't been there at the hidden base, I could have been more hurt!" he paused, then deadpanned, "And since when is Kakashi-sensei responsible?"

Sakura paled, "Aw, damn," she said.

Naruto patted her on the back, "It'll be fine! Don't worry about it. Anyways, can I join you guys for Ino's shopping? I need to get more supplies too."

The girls looked at each other and Naruto saw that weird gleam in their eyes. Before he could take it back, they grabbed him and dragged him along. As they made their way through town, they kept seeing weird stuff behind them. First there was a moving vending machine, and then a tree with a giant hole in it, and Naruto finally snapped after the appearance of the square rock.

"Konohamaru! Would you stop following me?"

The rock disappeared to show the Konohamaru corps and the leader himself was in the middle rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly, "And that's why you're our boss! You're impressive as always!"

Naruto sweat dropped, "You have to work on your disguises," he said.

Konohamaru waved it off, "So who are these two, your girlfriends?"

When he said that, Naruto missed the gleam in the girls' eyes because he was shocked by the question, but finally, he composed himself and started laughing. Finally, he pulled himself together and straightened up, "No, they aren't my girlfriends," he said, "They're in love with some Emo-teme."

Konohamaru nodded in approval, "Good, Boss is too good for a girl with a giant forehead and a blonde bimbo."

Suddenly, the temperature around them dropped a few degrees and the three children and the preteen looked over to see the girls steaming and looking at the poor boy with murder in their eyes.

Naruto felt doom in the near future, "Um, Konohamaru-chan, some advice?" the boy shot him an inquisitive look, "Run."

He took off with the two girls following him, leaving Naruto and the other two of the Konohamaru corps standing and staring. Naruto turned to them, "Udon, Moegi, we should probably follow so they don't kill him."

The two nodded and they made their way to follow and they almost made it to them, but they were stopped when Konohamaru ran around a corner and there was a crash.

"Ow! You little brat! You're gonna pay!"

They ran around the corner to see that Konohamaru had run into a strange character. He was dressed in a black, baggy, full body suit with a red and yellow circle on the front. His hood was pulled up, sporting cat-like ears. He also wore freaky purple face-paint. His Hitai-ate was on his forehead, but instead of the expected leaf symbol, there was an hourglass with a line under it.

There was a girl behind him. Her blonde hair was pulled up into four tight wolf tails. She wore a single light purple-colored, off-the-shoulders garment that extended to halfway down her thighs, with a scarlet sash tied around her waist. In addition to incorporating fishnet worn over her shoulders and legs, specifically on her right calf and her left thigh, she also wore her black forehead protector around her neck. She seemed to glance around nervously as if she was waiting for someone to jump out.

Naruto frowned and turned toward the cat-boy, "Drop the runt, he's with me."

The boy just sneered, "Are you asking for a fight?" he reached to grab the bandaged tool on his back.

"Bring it," Naruto got into a fighting stance and fanned five senbon in his hand, "Although why not ask your buddy to stop hiding first, that way it'll be a fair three-on-three match."

The girl paled as a third boy appeared on the tree branch. He had red hair and greed eyes with the kanji for love on his forehead and dark rings around his eyes. He wore a black full body suit with t-shirt-like sleeves and an open neck. With this, he wore a white cloth over his right shoulder and the left side of his hips, and a wide leather band system over the left shoulder and right side of his hips. With this leather band, he carried around a gourd. His Hitai-ate was wrapped over the band.

He teleported next to the boy in a flurry of sand. The boy and girl paled and Konohamaru was dropped to scamper behind Naruto. With a cool look, the red head addressed Naruto, "I apologize for my siblings. They are idiots. We mean no harm towards the leaf village," he turned to the other two, "Temari, Kankurō, let's go."

The girl started to panic, "Gaara, it's not what it looks like, you see-,"

She was silenced with Gaara's glare, "Shut up or I'll kill you."

Before he turned again, he looked at Naruto, "What's your name? Your sensing skills are impressive." he said.

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto! You best not be forgetting it, dattebayo!"

"I am Sabaku no Gaara. Uzumaki Naruto…I look forward to our next encounter."

With that he bowed and walked away. Naruto turned to the other and smiled, "Well, let's go! Didn't we have some shopping to do?"

The girls nodded, deciding it best not to think about what just happened.

**Owari**

**Remember that whole spiel I gave about skipping events with chapter changes? I do…**

**Hopefully the updates won't take too long. I have gotten to the stage where I have been working too long on one story and I have lost interest. No worries, though, I never discontinue stories.**

**I will update as I do!**

**Anywho…*lea*e review!**


	17. Chapter 17

**Disclaimer: (insert infuriating joke about not owning Naruto)**

**A.N. You'll probably figure out the asterisk message by the end of this chapter…It's not that hard.**

**Chapter 17**

"YOU'RE LATE!" Naruto was awoken from his happy nap as his pink hair teammate scolded their overdue overseer.

"Maa, maa. Sorry I'm late. I got lost on the road of life."

Naruto scoffed.

Kakashi eye-smiled and handed out three slips of paper, "Anyway, I just wanted to get you guys together so that I could give you these and tell you that you have three days to prepare. If you don't want to participate, you don't have to, but if you do, fill these out and take them to the marked location."

With that, he disappeared in a blast of smoke. Naruto was pleased to see that the paper that was given was the entrance tickets to the chūnin exams. He looked over at Sakura, "You see? I told you that we were ready."

Sakura dead-panned, "You also told me that Kakashi sensei was irresponsible."

Naruto brushed it off, "Whatever, we're so ready. And the fact that we already went shopping with Ino-chan this morning means that we don't have to prepare other than training," he turned to Sasuke, "Are you ready to go?"

Sasuke gave a superior smirk, "Hn. Of course I am dobe-,"

"Teme!"

"-but that doesn't mean I can't get some training in before we go."

Without another word, he left his pink and orange teammates to stew.

Naruto smiled, "I'll get him eventually."

Sakura rolled her eyes and pushed Naruto back toward town, "C'mon, let's go get some ramen. I'll pay this time."

"RAMEN!"

Next thing she knew, there was a dust cloud leading from where Naruto stood into town and, she could guess, Ichiraku's. The time passed and the three found themselves in front of the exam center. Naruto was just bursting with anticipation. He was about to jump out of his skin, but he was stopped by a voice behind them.

"Naruto-kun! I did not expect to see you here so soon, though I guess I should expect no less from my eternal rival!"

Naruto suppressed a chuckle and turned around, "Bushy brow, nice to see you're here too."

Lee nodded, "I assume that since you are here, then that means that Uchiha Sasuke is here as well, correct?"

Naruto scratched his head, "Uh, yeah, he's here, Why?"

Lee waved him off, "Excuse me, I must find him at once," he pushed through the crowd until he found the Uchiha prodigy. Once he was sure to get the younger boy's attention, he got into a ready stance and said, "I am Rock Lee. I wish to fight you."

Sasuke scoffed, "Why would I want to fight you? It'd be over too quickly."

Lee smirked and gave his cryptic answer, "Among strong people exist genius types and hard-working types. If your Sharingan is a genius-type from the Uchiha blood, I am simply a hard-working type who has mastered only taijutsu."

Sasuke scoffed and got into a ready stance, "Whatever, if you want to get beaten so badly. I bet even the dobe-,"

"Teme!"

"-could beat you."

Lee smiled and a sparkle came off f his teeth, "Naruto-kun has already beaten me several times. We are currently tied 20-20."

Sasuke smirked, "So if you can't even beat the dobe-,"

"Teme!"

"-then there is no way you can beat me."

Lee smirked, "We'll see."

Sakura stepped next to Sasuke and timidly got his attention, "Um, Sasuke, maybe you shouldn't do this. I mean, you didn't see him at the tournament. Ino said that he looked really tough."

Sasuke brushed it off, "Psh. Stupid fan girl mentality."

Naruto put his hand on Sakura's shoulder, "Just let him go. He'll need to learn eventually," He turned to his bushy-browed friend, "Kick his ass, Lee."

Lee smirked, "I intend to."

Sasuke scoffed and ran at Lee only to be kicked around a few times and to be thrown around. Finally, he was kicked into the air. As he hovered, Lee appeared behind him and wrapped him in a bunch of bandages and spiraled downward. However, before they could hit the ground, an orange blur came up and tackled them out of the air, sending the two flying away from each other and kicking up dust as they landed.

When debris cleared, it showed that Naruto had grabbed Sasuke and was standing in between the two and shaking his head at Lee, "Sorry, bud," he said, "but I need the Teme-,"

"Tch. Dobe."

"-to get into the exams, and I think you kicked him around enough. Hopefully, his head shrunk in the beating."

Sasuke scoffed and Lee gained tears in his eyes, "Most admirable! Saving a comrade is a great way to spread your flames of youth!"

Naruto sighed, "Yup," he said, "Now let's go inside."

They quickly walked up some stairs until they were stopped at the second floor by a gathering crowd around the door. Naruto scratched his head, but brushed it of as he dragged his curious teammates up the stairs.

When he stepped in front of the exam room, Sakura stopped him and huffed, "How did you see past the genjutsu?" she asked.

"Ara? Genjutsu?"

Sakura looked mildly displeased, "There was a genjutsu that made the second floor look like the second floor. Weren't you curious about the giant crowd? I would have fallen for it too, if you hadn't dragged me up the stairs like you did."

Naruto shrugged, "Sorry, I didn't know," he said.

Sakura gave him a pointed look, "You're kidding."

"Nope," he chirped, "now hurry up so we can go!"

Sakura nodded and they filed in, only to hear a loud yell, "Wahoo! It looks like you losers made it here too!"

Naruto turned and smiled, "Nice to see you too, dog-breath."

Kiba crossed his arms and nodded sagely, "Yup, it looks like our whole team made it here."

Before he could say more, there was a shout from the door, "Naruto-kun!"

Suddenly, Ino jump out of nowhere and latched onto the object of her outburst. Said blonde jut looked at her curiously,

"Yes Ino?" he asked.

Ino seemed to regain her composure, "Never mind," she said, brushing imaginary dust off her skirt. Shikamaru and Choji followed her, nodding their greetings.

"You guys might want to settle down. You're attracting an awful lot of attention." Th nine rookies turned to the voice to see a boy with silver hair pulled into a small ponytail and wearing a purple outfit. He adjusted his glasses and continued, "You guys are acting like fresh children right out of the academy and it might make you one too many enemies."

They turned to the rest of the room and frowned as all of the others were glaring at their small group. Naruto could tell that his friends were starting to falter under the looks, so he decided to do something drastic.

He smacked the desk and proclaimed, "My name is Uzumaki Naruto and you'd do best to remember it! I'll take you all on!"

With his little outburst, he felt the glares all focus on him and he was glad to see his friends looking a little less intimidated. The silver haired genin nodded at his actions as if approving, but continued, "My name is Yakushi Kabuto and I just wanted to help the newbies out."

Sakura gave him an appreciative smile, "How many times have you tried this exam, Yakushi-san?"

"This would be my fifth year I tried," he said. The others looked surprised, but he continued, "I've had the ability to gather information that might be able to help you. Just tell me who you want to know about," he offered, pulling out blank cards.

Sasuke stepped forward, "Let me know about Rock Lee, Sabaku no Gaara, and Uzumaki Naruto."

Naruto shot him a look, "Oi! Teme!"

"Psh. Dobe."

"What are you doing looking up stuff about me? I'm on your flippin' team, so just ask me!"

Sasuke just rolled his eyes and motioned for Kabuto to continue, and the genin happily complied. Giving a false pout, he pulled out a card and information appeared on it. "It's no fun if you know their names," with that he began reading it aloud, "Aw well, Rock Lee: sixteen C-ranks and two B-ranks. Very impressive since his chakra is underdeveloped so he is unable to use anything other than taijutsu," He nodded and pulled out another card.

"Sabaku no Gaara: eighteen C-ranks, twelve B-ranks, and two A-ranks. This is made even more impressive by the fact that when he completed these missions, he never even got a scratch on him."

He moved onto the next card, "Uzumaki Naruto: Three C-ranks, an A-rank," he continued reading the card aloud, "The studliest ninja in the whole goddamned village."

Kabuto furrowed his brows in confusion at the information, but Naruto narrowed his eyes. That was exactly the same thing he wrote in Jiji's book that day that he swiped it when he was bored. He walked to an examiner on the side of the room and got his attention.

"Oi!" he hissed quietly. When the chūnin leaned over, he continued, "This kid. Kabuto has information that only the Hokage should see."

The chūnin nodded as a man suddenly appeared in front of the classroom, "Settle down, you maggots!"

As the genin settled in their assigned seats, the chūnin that Naruto spoke to got up and motioned for Kabuto to follow him out the room. Naruto smirked and turned forward, ready to face whatever he threw out. The only thing he didn't want to do was a written test, but they probably weren't going to have something like that, so he should be fine.

"The first part of the exam will be a written test."

Oh god dammit.

Naruto waited for the time to start and he flipped the page over, only to sigh in relief. Thank goodness. The questions weren't that hard because he had learned this stuff back when he was studying in the library. He quickly filled out the page and put his head down.

Next thing he knew, he was being shaken awake by his pink teammate. He looked up at her curiously and she explained to him the whole meaning behind the test was to cheat and test their information gathering skills. Then that the tenth question was to test their resolve.

It turned out that the majority of the class failed the tenth question and they were left with twelve teams. He was surprised to hear about the crazy proctor lady who busted through the window ahead of schedule, though since she left her banners hanging up, that and with all the broken glass over the floor, it wasn't hard to imagine it.

He sighed and headed out to Ichiraku's so that he would be prepared for the next part of the exam tomorrow. He was surprised when Sakura, Team 10, and Team 8 decided to join him. They partied all night to a reasonable hour and they all went to bed excited for the next exam. Now if only it could go as smoothly as it did today.

**Owari**

**Thank goodness for thesauruses, yeah?  
Tardy Teacher  
Inpunctual Instructor  
Overdue Overseer.  
(Dam I'm good!)**

**Also, I love the Dobe Teme match. It makes me smile to type it. Currently, it's a tie…I think.**

**I tried my best with that Kabuto information, but my lack of viewing stuff has made it difficult to be completely accurate. If I messed up, would you kindly advise me, or just stew…I guess that would work too.**

**Finally! I hope it's acceptable… or at least funny.**

**Please point out any mistakes I make and I will be quick to remedy them.**

**Anywho…*lease review!**


	18. Chapter 18

**Disclaimer: (insert perceptive joke about not owning Naruto)**

**A.N. Okay, so this next part is just an experiment, so please don't kill me!**

**Chapter 18**

Sakura sat hidden in the hollowed out tree, panting in fear and she couldn't help but wonder how it had gone so wrong so fast. She stared down at her two unconscious teammates in worry as she heard the bushes rustle near her. She tried to hold her breath as she activated one of the genjutsu that Kurenai-sensei taught her.

She made it look like the boys weren't there as she stepped out of the log to meet their pursuers. She was worried about her partners, so she turned to the three approaching sound ninja and held out the earth scroll, "I can't fight," she said, "You just need this scroll to pass this part of the exam, so please just take it and go."

The one in the front had bandages covering most of his face, leaving only his left eye uncovered. He wore a large poncho with long sleeves, a snake patterned scarf around his neck, a straw raincoat protruding from the back of his scarf, and a large metal device on his right arm. His was hunched over, and he looked down at her with an air of superiority.

He sneered, "Like we care about that, we want Sasuke," he said.

The girl snapped, "Dosu! Need to know basis." She had very long black hair, almost reaching down to the ground, tied by a violet ribbon right near the end, and black eyes. She wore a forehead protector, a pale green vest somehow similar to a flak jacket, and snake patterned pants and scarf, much like her team-mates.

Dosu sneered, "It won't matter when she's dead, Kin."

Kin smirked and nodded toward the third member, "Zaku! You take care of this poor excuse for a Kunoichi."

Zaku had spiky, dark hair and dark eyes. He wore a beige shirt with two black stripes and three prints of the kanji for death down the front. His forehead protector had a face guard. As with his teammates, he wore a snake patterned scarf around his neck. He gave a wicked grin, "Gladly," he said as he launched off straight at the poor pinkette, but before her could impale her with a kunai, he heard someone scream, "DYNAMIC ENTRY!" There was a green blur and then he only saw black.

Sakura stared in awe as Lee jumped down in front of her, "Do not worry, Sakura," he said, keeping his eyes on the three, "I will protect you with my life,"

Sakura had to smile. She was glad for the help and said as such. The green clad boy merely nodded and jumped forward and engaged with Dosu, only to jump back moments later, panting. Dosu smirked and explained that his gauntlet emitted sound waves that messed with Lee's head. Our green hero was helpless and succumbed to the sound and fell against the tree, blood running out of his ears.

He smirked, "At least I gave them time to get here," he said as he finally fell unconscious. Sakura looked up at the remaining two members and gasped. If Lee was unable to beat them, then she had a feeling that she didn't stand a chance.

She was going to at least try to hold them off, but she was stopped when she saw a flash of blue and Kin suddenly stood up straight, dropped her superior smirk, and walked over to Dosu. Before the hunchback could ask what was up, Kin delivered a chop to his neck and knocked him out.

Suddenly, she turned toward the trees and using a different voice from normal, she called out; "It's your turn, Choji!" in that instance, Sakura recognized the voice as Ino. Suddenly, a giant green ball came out of the woods straight at Kin, and Ino released the mind transfer jutsu before Choji hit and rendered the female enemy unconscious.

With that, the three Ino-Shika-Cho members stepped out of the brush and Ino rushed to Sakura's side, "What happened to Naruto-kun and Sasuke-kun?" she demanded, looking around for the aforementioned genin.

Sakura started to cry and did her best to use her medical ninjutsu to fix Lee's ears, but eventually, she spoke, "Some creepy snake themed pedophile attacked us, knocked Naruto out, gave Sasuke a hickey that caused him immense pain to the point of unconsciousness, and when I moved them to a safe area, we were attacked. Lee tried to help, but he was defeated and then you showed up."

Ino sighed in relief, "So no one is dead, that's good," she leaned down and started applying her own medical ninjutsu to Lee in attempts to speed up the healing. When Sakura sent her a questioning look, she sighed, "What? You think I didn't learn something besides my clan jutsu? After that mission with Team 7, I wanted to be able to help more like you did."

Sakura nodded and they moved Lee into the stump next to the other boys and she reapplied the genjutsu to hide both teams. They waited in silence as Sasuke woke and slowly sat up holding his head, "What happened?" he asked.

Sakura explained of the attacks and the assistance and since the sound team had a heaven scroll, and team 10 already had both scrolls, Team 7 was able to successfully collect the heaven and earth scrolls and they were able to go to the tower and they could finally get done with this stupid test. They just had to wait for Naruto to recover.

Sasuke scoffed, "I can wake him up," he said.

The others looked at him curiously.

He smirked, "The dobe-,"

"Teme!"

"-is easy to get to once you know him."

The others stared at the blonde that hopped up and shouted the insult, shock written on their faces. Naruto smiled and scratched the back of his head sheepishly, "Maa, maa. How long was I out?"

The disbelieving stares shifted to Sasuke and Sakura finally got herself to speak up, "How'd you know that would work?"

"Hn."

He said no more.

Naruto rolled his eyes, "Whatever! Let's just find the heaven scroll so we can pass this stupid exam already!"

Sakura smiled at his enthusiasm, but was happy to share about the scroll. They waited until Lee was fine, signaled his team, and the three teams made their way to the tower.

**Owari**

**Great…now I have to come up with a clever way to pester for reviews… that should be fun. Just know that the review phrase will be very similar to its brethren in the following chapters till I change it again.**

**I hate to admit it, but there's a really good chance that I'm going to attempt to write a fight scene for the next chapter. I have been trying to avoid it the whole time since I started this crappy story, but now I have forced my hand. Let's go…**

**Anywho… *Please review!***

**Oh Please, oh please! I would get down on my hands and knees and beg, but I don't want to get dirty…**

**K, bye!**


	19. Chapter 19

**Disclaimer: (insert agnostic joke about not owning Naruto)**

**A.N. Here we go…I write fight scenes. Please don't kill me!**

**Chapter 19**

Naruto pulled out the two scrolls and overlapped them. After the papers came in contact, a plume of smoke puffed out from the summoning on the scrolls, obscuring their vision. When it cleared, it showed Haku standing on the scroll.

Naruto scratched his head, "Haku? Wasn't it supposed to summon a chūnin like it did for Team 10?"

Haku smiled, "I am a chūnin," he said, "I just got off my probation and Hokage-sama thought this would be nice way to help me be reinstated."

Naruto made an "oh" with his mouth as he followed Haku into the tower. The Hyōton user merely smiled as he led the curious genin through the corridors. Naruto was surprised that they and five other teams were the only ones to make it. It was the Rookie 9, Lee's team, the sound team that attacked them in the forest, and the sand team.

They checked in and relaxed for the remaining few days. During this, Haku would walk around with Naruto and the two would visit others from the Rookie 9. The other two teams seemed to ostracize themselves from the rest of the group.

Thankfully, no one else arrived within the rest of their stay and they were all called to the commons room to hear an announcement. Naruto did his best to stay awake as the old man gave his longwinded speech on village strength and proving themselves and blah, blah, blah. He almost failed and fell asleep, but he was jolted awake at the announcement for preliminaries.

Apparently, too many teams made it into the finals, so they were going to cut down the number. A large screen flashed off and the first two combatants showed up.

**Yamanaka Ino vs. Sabaku no Kankurō**

Ino looked around nervously, but Naruto walked up next to her and patted her on the shoulder, "You got this," he said, "There's no need to be nervous."

Ino gave a weak, but appreciative smile and she made her way down to the stage as the cat man from earlier came to the other side. A Jōnin jumped down and looked between the two opponents. He had pronounced lines under his eyes and he looked pretty sickly. He wore his Hitai-ate as a bandanna.

"My name is Hayate Gekkō, and I will be your proctor for the preliminaries." He said before coughing into his fist.

Ino and Kankurō nodded to him and he signaled for them to begin. The two opponents launched off and Ino delivered a few quick punches to vital parts of Kankurō's body too quickly for him to react. Once he she hit him enough to cause him to reel back, she pulled out a poison laced senbon and stabbed it so that the poison would spread through his system quickly, but when she stabbed him, it felt as if she was stabbing into wood more than flesh. Suddenly, Kankurō reached around her and pulled her into a tight embrace, keeping her from escaping.

As she tried to struggle free, Kankurō's skin seemed to peel off until it revealed a strange wooden puppet and the bandages on the puppet's back unwrapped and Kankurō jumped out.

He looked at her pathetic attempts to struggle free and sneered, "You can't win," he said, "Give up."

Ino sighed, knowing she had been beaten, "I forfeit," she said sadly.

Hayate raised his hand, "The winner is Kankurō."

Ino walked up to the balcony with her head lowered only to be stopped by Naruto, "Aw, cheer up, Ino-chan," he said, "You'll get them next time."

She gave a weak smile but still looked sad, so Naruto smiled and offered a surefire feel-better, "I'll treat you to Ichiraku's when this is over."

Ino seemed to brighten and she gained sparkles in her eyes, "Thanks, Naruto," she said as she turned to walk downstairs, "I'll meet you tonight at eight o'clock."

He waved as she left, then turned to look at the screen to see who was next.

**Inuzuka Kiba vs. Hyūga Neji**

Naruto waved to a cocky Kiba as he made his way to the stage. Unfortunately, the match didn't last very long as Neji easily danced around the canine warrior and used his Jūken to easily shut down Kiba's limbs. Naruto had to suppress a shudder at the ferocity that Neji attacked. It was like he wasn't even sparring with a comrade. He would have hated to go up against him.

Naruto walked up to Kiba after his loss and sat down next to him, "You'll get him next time," he said encouragingly.

Kiba scoffed, "It's not that I lost, it's that I lost so easily. I mean, he didn't even break a sweat."

Naruto patted him on the shoulder, "You win some, you lose some. It just means you'll have to practice so that you can improve enough to beat him next time," he brightened, "I'll tell you what, would you like to join me and Ino tonight at Ichiraku's? We're going to celebrate surviving this hellish exam."

Kiba smiled, "Sure," he said, "Thanks man," he paused, "and I expect you to help me prepare for my payback at Neji. I want to spar when this is over."

Naruto smiled as Kiba turned to go downstairs, "I wouldn't miss it."

Naruto turned back and headed to the balcony in tome to see Shikamaru coming back up the stairs. He came up to the lazy genius and smiled, "Sorry I missed your match. How'd it go?"

Shikamaru rubbed the back of his neck and yawned, "Mendokusē. I had to face off against the girl from the team of sound ninja. I made her hit her head and I won."

"That's awesome! You can run the play-by-play tonight at Ichiraku's. We're having and after party."

Shikamaru sighed, "Whatever. I guess I'll see you tonight then. Good luck with your battle."

Naruto said his thanks as the lazy boy slinked down the stairs. He ran out to the balcony in time to see the board.

**Haruno Sakura vs. Sabaku no Gaara**

Naruto bit his thumb in worry. What a crappy matchup. They had only seen the sand ninja once and that had been enough to show that he was too skilled for her. That coupled with Kabuto's information kinda sent it all spiraling downward. He waved his encouragements down to her, trying to hide his worry.

Sakura, however, was very much aware of the danger she as in as she walked down the steps to the arena floor and stopped in front of the redhead. She had to slow her trembling as she looked into his creepy stare.

Gaara, for his part, simply looked at the girl in front of him with little emotion. He seemed almost bored with everything that was going on.

"Begin." Hayate announced.

Sakura jumped back and awaited Gaara's first move, but he just stood there with his arms crossed, simply following her with his eyes.

"Well are you going to fight or not?" she asked, warily.

Gaara's scowl deepened, "There's no point in fighting a weakling like you."

"What's that supposed to mean?" She asked.

Sakura suddenly felt horrible feeling settle upon her. She fell to her knees from the feeling and nearly passed out. It was like she could see her mangled corpse that would be the result of the battle. As quickly as the feeling came, it vanished, and she released the breath that she had been holding.

"That is why there is no point. You are not worth killing. You can't even handle the bare minimum of my killing intent. Killing someone like you will not prove my existence. Weaklings do not interest me." He said as he turned to leave.

His word cut Sakura deeper than a kunai. She remembered all the times she froze up in the face of a dangerous opponent. She knew she was a burden that couldn't pull her own weight. With a heavy heart, she raised her hand, "I forfeit," she said, attempting to hide her tears f disappointment.

Naruto waited at the top of the stairs as she walked up. He followed her as she made her way toward the exit. He placed a gentle hand on her back and let her cry into his shoulder. He whispered words of encouragement as she let her disappointment out.

"Why am I such a failure?" she asked, "I couldn't help you on the bridge, then when that creepy snake guy attacked, and now I couldn't even stand psychological warfare! I should just quit as it is."

Naruto pulled her up and looked her in the eyes, "Don't say that. If you hadn't been there the second time I was kidnapped, it could have turned out much worse. You have plenty of potential, it's just you haven't been using it. All you have to do is stop googling Sasuke and get serious with training."

She looked up at him and seemed like she was going to respond negatively, so he interrupted her, "How about this. Tomorrow, I'll help you out with your training. First I have a spar scheduled with Kiba, but afterwards, I'm all yours."

She gave a weak smile, "I'd like that," she said, "I guess I'll see you tomorrow, then."

Naruto stopped her again, "Wait. Do you want to hang out at Ichiraku's tonight around eight?"

Sakura got the same sparkles in her eyes as Ino did and Naruto had to wonder if maybe all girls did that. He would have to talk to Tenten and Hinata later.

"I would love to." She said and before he could say more, she skipped down the stairs happily and Naruto had to agree with her. The idea of training to get stronger after eating at Ichiraku's would definitely brighten his mood too.

He came back out onto the balcony and found a crying Lee hugging an equally crying Gai.

"What did I miss?" he asked.

Gai did a good-guy pose, "Lee just finished a most youthful battle and defeated the equally youthful Shino! I'm so proud of my pupil!"

Naruto blanched, "Aw damn, I missed your match?"

Lee did a good-guy pose too, "That's right, now you have to suffer the consequences," he said in his upbeat way.

_Note to self: Never make a bet that I can watch all of Bushy-brow's matches, _Naruto thought to himself as he finished putting on the green jumpsuit and orange legwarmers. He tied his Hitai-ate around his waist so that he looked like Lee.

Lee smirked, "And that's not all."

"I know," Naruto said while crying anime tears.

He got into position and he started letting his tears flow more freely.

"Lee!" Naruto shouted, copying Gai's boisterous voice "That was a most youthful battle."

"Thank you, Naruto-kun!" Lee gained tears in his eyes, "I will do my best to fight well in the future!"

"I know you will!"

"Naruto-kun!"

"Lee!"

They embraced and let the tears flow and Gai jumped in and did the sunset backdrop jutsu. Everyone in the room dropped what they were doing and stared at the strange spectacle.

Once the tears stopped, Lee turned to Naruto and smiled, "And now you have to wear that for the rest of the week."

Naruto bit his lip, "Damn you, you bastard," he said with no malice.

Lee bowed.

Naruto sighed, "Well, we're going to have a little party to celebrate the chūnin exams and congratulate those who pass. Would you like to join?"

Lee happily agreed and ran downstairs to watch with the others. Naruto smiled turned in time to see Shino standing in the hallway.

"Oi! Shino!" he called out.

Shino turned to him and raised an eyebrow.

Naruto took it as permission to continue, so he did so, "You want to join us at Ichiraku's tonight?"

"I would, thanks,"

Naruto smiled as Shino went downstairs.

Naruto ran back into the room to see that he hadn't missed the next match. He looked up at the board and smiled.

**Zaku vs. Uchiha Sasuke**

Naruto moved to wish the Uchiha good luck, but he was promptly ignored, so he just waved it off and watched his rival go up on the stage.

Sasuke stared at the sound ninja with disdain. The arrogance from his opponent was really starting to piss him off. The only thing he hated worse than weaklings was weaklings that didn't know their place.

As if to prove Sasuke's silent point, Zaku opened the battle by putting his arm behind his back and yelling, "This is too easy! One arm is more than enough to beat you!" He charged at Sasuke, with a punch aimed at the solar plexus only to be blocked easily.

"You couldn't beat me with both arms!" Sasuke sneered as he quickly delivered a hard punch to Zaku's face forcing him back a little and creating a gap.

Zaku quickly recovered and pointed his hand at the Uchiha, it was then Sasuke noticed a small hole in the center of his open palm, a closer look with his sharingan and he was able to see chakra gathering within the hole. The sound ninja started his technique.

"Kuuki…" he started.

Sasuke acted quickly, and reached into his side pouch and took out a senbon and with a flick of his hand threw it with point accuracy into the hole.

"…Kirimasu!" Zaku finished.

Zaku's attack seemed to charge with nowhere to go and his arm bulged for a moment before exploding and expelling the built up chakra.

Zaku screamed as he nursed his injured arm. When the smoke cleared, Zaku's arm was limp at his side, at the elbows were several hole into his arm where the chakra had been forced out.

Sasuke rushed forward and spun around to smash Zaku's face with his forearm sending him sprawling to the ground. After a few moments, Hayate walked over to the downed genin before standing and announcing, "The winner is Uchiha Sasuke!"

Naruto went up to Sasuke and smiled, "Hey, do you want to join the after party tonight?"

To his surprise, Sasuke didn't shot him down automatically. Instead, he was quiet for a short time before answering, "Hn. Fine."

Naruto internally cheered so much that he missed when Sasuke left to join the others. He ran back up the stairs and looked at the board.

**Hyūga Hinata vs. Dosu**

Naruto couldn't help the excitement as he watched the two walk down the stairs. He called down, "Kick his ass, Hinata-chan!"

Hinata looked up at him, turned a deep red, and then nodded. Naruto was amazed as the match went by as she easily danced around Dosu and shut off his tenketsu. When she was finished, he was unable to move and she bowed to him as he was taken off on a stretcher.

When she was at the top of the stairs, Naruto glomped her, "I knew you could do it Hinata-chan!"

She smiled and he only brightened more.

"We're having a party after to celebrate. Do you want to join?"

Hinata nodded and stuttered a silent yes.

When she left, Naruto turned up to the screen and nearly jumped up and down with excitement.

**Tenten vs. Uzumaki Naruto**

As Hayate called out to start, the two jumped off and launched their respective projectiles. Sparks flew as Kunai came in contact with senbon and they bounced to opposite ends of the arena. The two opponents stared each other down as they reached for more weapons.

"It's a shame we had to fight, Tenten-senpai," Naruto taunted, "It looks like you aren't even going to make it past the preliminaries."

Tenten only smirked and launched more kunai, which Naruto intercepted with senbon, "If you have time to banter, then there's time to fight, don't get cocky."

Naruto rolled his eyes, but he stopped mid-roll as Tenten pulled out two scrolls. She bit her finger to draw blood, opened the scrolls and launched in the air. Smearing blood on the scrolls, she summoned a barrage of weapons and sent them flying down at him.

Naruto let loose a small "eep," before he did his best to jump to the back and around to try to get out of the way. Thankfully, his dodging training came in handy as he avoided the shower of weapons.

When she landed, her ammo spent, Naruto took the opportunity to close the gap and charged toward her with a kunai in hand. He made to stab her, but she quickly blocked the swipe with her own blade. She shoved him back and he slid across the floor.

When he stood again, Tenten took the opportunity to pull out two more scrolls. She jumped into the air and launched another barrage of weapons. As she flew into the air, Naruto pulled on some ninja wire behind him and a barrage of senbon flew through the window and headed straight toward the weapon's mistress.

Tenten gasped and had to jump away as the enemy hail of weapons flew where she once was and shredded her scrolls. She growled, "When did you wire this place?" she asked.

Naruto smirked, "I have the world wired."

Lee called from the stand, "It's true! He does!"

Tenten rolled her eyes, but noticing that Naruto hadn't made a move toward her, she pulled out her last two scrolls and activated them, "I told you not to get cocky!" she yelled.

"Eep! My bad," he said as he did his best to avoid the weapons. He was nicked on the leg and side, but otherwise, he was able to dodge it. He smiled and pointed his kunai at her and smirked, "I know you're out of scrolls, and I haven't used all of my weapons yet. I also know that your dodge skills aren't enough to avoid my senbon.

"Kuso," Tenten swore. She sunk down to her knees, "I guess I have no choice then."

Naruto walked towards her and smirked, "Give up," he said.

She sighed defeated. Finally, he stopped in front of her and she quickly pulled her hands up and the ninja wire yanked the weapons and caused them to swarm around the blonde and tangle him up in ninja wire. She smirked and walked toward him as he gave a futile struggle. She stepped up to him and put the Kunai to his throat.

Hayate lifted his hand, "The winner is Tenten!"

Naruto shook Tenten's hand, invited her to the party, and went to go sulk in the back corner.

The screen flashed through a few more times and the next names came up.

**Akimichi Choji vs. Sabaku no Temari**

The two made their way to the field. When Hayate started the match, Temari gave a superior smirk, "Give up now, you can't win," She said.

The plump boy started ringing his hands and he looked away, poorly attempting to hide his fear, "N-no! I can do this!"

He made a few hand signs and yelled out, "Baika no Jutsu!" with that, he expanded into a giant green ball. He pulled his head and limbs into the giant ball and started rolling toward her, yelling, "Nikudan Sensha!"

She flipped out her fan from her back and with a single swing sent a blast of air that sent the poor boy flying into the opposite wall and knocked him unconscious

"Winner: Temari!"

Naruto caught up with his dejected friend, "Hey, that's too bad," he said, "You want to join us at Ichiraku's later? I'll pay for you."

Choji gave a small smiled, "Thank's Naruto," he said.

After the battles were settled, everyone gathered downstairs as Hayate announced the winners and numbers were drawn to set up the opponents for the next battles.

First match: Hinata vs. Neji  
Second match: Tenten vs. Temari  
Third Match: Shikamaru vs. Kankuro  
Fourth Match: Gaara vs. Sasuke  
Lee gets the bye

**XxOxX**

Naruto and the rest of the Rookie 9 and Tenten, Lee, and Haku partied all night. Now they just had to wait for a month to watch the finals. It shouldn't be too hard though. As the night closed, Naruto walked home with a smile. He may have lost out on his first chūnin exam, but he would do his best to prepare his friends for the up and coming battle.

**Owari**

***sob* I hate you fight scenes! Why do I have to dislike putting insert fight scene as a cop out?  
Ah well, Moving on.**

**I made up the Naruto and Tenten fight…nice, huh? It was all like, "Oh Naruto's gonna win," and I was all like, "Sorry, no." It was fun. I guess I should give credit where it's due, right? Naruto's true nindo by Kyuubi123 for Sakura's fight and Rokubi by VINcredible, for Sasuke's fight. I just really like those two fights. But I swear! The rest is original. Well.. Except for Shikamaru's canon fight. **

**Heh, I tried to slim down the fighting by getting rid of Kabuto and therefore his team. Then I decided to let the genjutsu before the exam get rid of some, and then Naruto didn't encourage them at the end of the written exam. I'm awesome.**

**Ah the drama unfolds during the battle. I was able to use this to skip fight scenes too. Ino got a big surprise because her "date" ended up being a party. I smile at that.**

**Nine…pages  
Nine "f"ing pages**

**Remember**** to tell me if I missed something.**

**Anywho…****  
****Yar, ye be reviewin' if ye know wats best fer ye.**


	20. Chapter 20

**Disclaimer: (insert dastardly joke about not owning Naruto)**

**Chapter 20**

Naruto tugged at his green jumpsuit as he made his way down to training ground 9. As if losing his chance at being a chūnin wasn't bad enough, now he had to suffer through the week wearing this accursed thing. Talk about adding insult to injury. But there was no use complaining about it now.

He didn't get very far into the training area before he suddenly had to jump to the side to avoid a green blur that created a crater where he once stood. He stood up and sweat dropped.

"God dammit, Lee! Would you stop doing that every time I walk into the area!" he yelled.

"My apologies," Lee said, "I just saw your youthful outfit and I figured you would be ready for or spar!"

Naruto sighed, "Translation: you're frustrated because you don't get to fight anyone in the next round so you want to take it out on me."

Lee didn't falter, "Be that as it may, we also need to help the lovely Tenten be ready for her match with the wind user! After all, her victory in the preliminaries was most youthful!"

After the words left Lee's mouth, Naruto found himself sulking in a corner under his own doom cloud.

Lee seemed to realize his mistake and attempted damage control, "Don't feel bad! You were also the epitome of youth during your battle!"

"Oh stop sulking! How are you going to get me next time if you don't get over loses when you have them?" Naruto looked up to see Tenten staring down at him.

He jumped up, "I'm not sulking! I'm just checking the ground for useful material to use during our spar," he paused, "What about Neji? Wasn't he also in the finals? Is he going to join us?"

Tenten sighed, "He probably went to train at the Hyūga compound. I really wish he would interact with us more, but he seems to think that he's too good for it."

Naruto waved it off, "It's alright, I'm sure we can break him eventually. I mean, I already got the Emo-queen to join us for ramen last night. There wasn't much talking, but at least it's a step in the right direction," he paused, "Wait a minute! That's not important now! What I want to know is a good way to train so that outcome between us doesn't happen again."

Tenten gave him a pointed look, "You know, for someone who likes to play the underestimation card on your enemies, you seem to overestimate your abilities," she paused, "As much as I hate to admit it, if you hadn't gotten cocky in that battle, I probably would have lost."

Naruto waved it off, "I know," he said, "now let's get started on your training."

Tenten huffed at him as he walked away, "Men," she said.

Naruto ignored it and kept walking further into the training ground, "So what do we know about your opponent, Tenten?"

Tenten took up a thinking pose, "Okay, So I know that she creates a giant gust of wind that pretty much acts as a perfect shield."

Naruto nodded, "Right, so that means that any weapons you throw at her will probably be useless."

Tenten sighed, "That's a pretty bad matchup. The majority of my weapons are thrown, and the other ones I have to get up close with, and after seeing Choji's match, I doubt she'll let me do that. I mean, if I just send a giant hailstorm of weapons at her, then she'll probably just blow it all away."

Naruto tapped his chin, "Although, we also saw that she was pretty cocky. Maybe you could play on that. If only we could distract her enough to even get one shot, you might be able to stop her," he dropped his fist in his hand, "I've got it!" he turned to Lee, "Let's have our spar."

Lee raised a brow, "What about Tenten?"

Naruto smirked, "We're going to be fighting and Tenten is going to try to hit us."

Tenten sighed, "What good will that do?"

Naruto gave her a foxy smile, "We're going to take off our weights."

Tenten sweat dropped and scratched her cheek, "I'm not sure I could hit you guys, then."

Lee did a good guy pose, "Brilliant! We can work on your speed at which you throw your weapons while also working on accuracy!"

Tenten sighed, "The chick from Suna would still just blow my weapons away."

Naruto waved it off, "Train now, I'll explain later."

**XxOxX**

Naruto sighed and headed over to training ground 8. Boy that was exhausting, although it did feel good to get the weights off again. Now that his training with Tenten was done, he had a new victim to work with.

He was happy to see the four members of Team 8 huddled together. They were probably making plans on how to train Hinata.

"Hey, Hinata-chan!" he called out, getting the attention of the group.

Surprisingly, Kurenai stepped forward. She had an intrigued look on her face, "We were just talking about you,"

Naruto looked curiously at her, "You were?"

"I heard you were really good at seeing through genjutsu."

Naruto scratched his head, "Not really, no."

Kurenai blinked, "My team was just talking about how you didn't even bat an eye at the genjutsu placed at the beginning of the chūnin exams."

Naruto scratched the back of his neck and laughed nervously, "About that, I didn't even realize that there was a genjutsu there."

Kurenai was silent for a second. She narrowed her eyes, "What do you mean?"

Naruto looked up at her steely gaze and started sweating, "Um… it didn't work on me?"

She took up a thinking pose, "Alright, that's interesting, I have a theory and I wanted to test it on you."

Naruto nodded slowly.

"I'm want to see if other genjutsu will work? Just stand there and tell me if you see anything."

He frowned, but nodded anyway.

She started making hand signs and when she finished, she looked at him expectantly. He scratched his head, but saw nothing. She seemed to get flustered and she started making more complex hand signs. Naruto just looked at her.

He scratched his head again, "Are we going to start?"

Finally she sighed. "Ok, I've been sending continuous streams of genjutsu, but none seem to be working," Naruto blinked confusedly as she continued, "So I'm going to try some high-level illusions. These are offensive genjutsu. These are the ones I'd use in actual battle. As such, they will be threatening. I didn't intend to use these on you, but since nothing else is working, just remember you're not actually in danger, ok?"

Naruto nodded slowly, but reluctantly responded, "Alright."

She made even more complex hand signs and when she stopped, she looked at him again. Naruto looked around him. Nothing seemed off; he just started hearing a little buzzing in his ear. He furrowed his brow and Kurenai released the illusion.

"Did you see something?" she asked.

He frowned, "Not really, I just kinda heard some buzzing."

"Buzzing?" she asked incredulously. Her frustration seemed to rise, but she sighed and looked at him, "Alright Naruto, that was one of my strongest genjutsu, so you may have some immunity to genjutsu in general," she paused, "What we don't know is why. If you don't mind, Hinata, would you take a look at his chakra system?"

The dark haired girl nodded and she activated her Doujutsu. After a few seconds, she shut it off again and turned to him, "Your chakra system seems to be a little messed up. I mean, the chakra is running through and all, but there only seems to be just enough to keep you alive."

Kurenai nodded, "It seems that your chakra is so centric around making your body function that it isn't affected by outside intrusions of foreign chakra."

Naruto smiled, "Cool."

Kiba sighed, "Aw man, I was hoping to see Kurenai-sensei put you in a world of horrifying illusions," he kicked the ground, "It was going to be so funny."

Naruto raised an eyebrow, "Thanks for the vote of confidence, dog-breath."

Kurenai decided to interrupt their little squabble prematurely by placing a hand on Kiba's shoulder, but she addressed Naruto "Well, we just got done with training with Hinata for today, but maybe you could give her some pointers."

Kiba crossed his arms and grumbled but otherwise didn't say anything.

Kurenai turned to Hinata and winked, "You too kids have fun, but keep it clean."

Hinata immediately turned a bright shade of red and turned around while Naruto scratched his head in confusion, "Okay," he said.

The other three of Team 8 quickly made their way out of the forest, leaving the two alone. When Naruto was sure they were gone, he sat down in the grass and motioned for Hinata to join him, "So how can I help you train today?" he stretched out his green spandex and let it snap back, "I got my training clothes on just for such an occasion."

Hinata giggled and sat down next to him, "I just have to increase my speed and flexibility. The Jūken is not as effective when you have an opponent who fights with it as well.

Naruto crossed his arms and nodded sagely, "I can see that," he paused, "I wonder how Neji is practicing."

"That's none of your concern. This is a clan issue," Naruto whipped around to see the white eyed bastard staring down his nose at him, "Speak of the devil," he said quietly.

If Neji heard the comment, he didn't show it, he just turned to Hinata, "Hinata-sama," he spat the name as if it were poison, "Hiashi-sama requests your presence after you finish with your training."

She nodded, "Thank you, Neji-nii-san. I will find him."

Naruto had to resist the urge to cringe as the Hyūga left the training ground. He turned to Hinata, "If he's your brother, why does he treat you like that?"

Hinata sighed, "He's not my brother. He's my cousin. Although you are right, unfortunately, it's within reason that he acts like that."

Naruto sighed, "Hinata-chan, you are one of the kindest people I know. What reason could he possibly have to treat you with such distain? I doubt it's because you started it."

Hinata seemed to fidget with her fingers, "He's grieving his late father."

She then told Naruto the story of when she was kidnapped on her birthday a few years back. When her father killed the Kumo ninja who tried to kidnap her, Kumo disguised the kidnapper as an ambassador of peace and when he was killed they threatened to declare war. For compensation, Kumo demanded her father's body. Unfortunately, Hiashi was the head of the main branch of the family, so he was too important to lose, so his twin brother and Neji's uncle, Hizashi took his place. Because he was from the branch family, they relied on the caged bird seal to keep Kumogakure from getting the Byakugan.

She also explained that Neji blamed her and the main family for his loss, so she was willing to withstand his anger if it was to help him deal with his grief.

She finished her story with a sad sigh, "I only wish he would stop putting me down every time he sees me. Even though he takes it out on me, he says he blames fate for what happened and he says that just as he is fated to be beneath the main family, I am fated to be a failure," she started tearing up, "I just want him to finally see how much I've improved. I know I used to be weak, but thanks to encouragement from my team," she seemed to get quiet, "…and you," she gained volume again, "I was able to finally get up my confidence. I don't want to run away anymore."

Naruto gave her a proud smile and pulled her in a sideways hug, "You have improved, Hinata-chan. There's no way you won't kick his ass."

Hinata returned his grin with a grateful smile, but then she seemed to notice her position. She looked down at Naruto's arm that was draped around her shoulder, back at him, turned bright red, and promptly fainted.

Naruto became frantic, "Hinata-chan! Are you okay?"

**XxOxX**

Naruto sighed. Thankfully, Hinata didn't seem to be injured when she awoke. He made sure she didn't have a fever and he began to help her get her speed up. He couldn't remember the last time he had his weights off so much in one day.

Now he just had to head down to training ground 10 to see how Shikamaru was doing. He entered the clearing warily. It was too quiet for comfort and he walked down further until he saw a familiar girl sitting on a log.

"Hey Ino!" he chirped, "Where's Shika? Did I miss his training for today?"

Ino smiled at him, but it quickly turned to a disappointed frown, "That lazy bum didn't want to come out today. I was going to show him this really cool water walking exercise. He seemed to take to the tree climbing, so I wanted to help him improve more."

Naruto smiled, "I'm sure he appreciated the thought, but he trains differently than we do," when she shot him a confused look, he continued, "He's a thinker, not a doer. Instead of making him do manual training, it might work better if you helped his intellect. Maybe try joining him in a game of shogi."

Ino paled, "I don't think that's a good idea. He would easily stomp me, so I wouldn't be much help."

Naruto shrugged, "You'd be surprised. Just think of it as introducing him to a new train of thought. That way he could take someone of your mentality into account next time he plans a strategy."

He smiled up at her and she smiled back, but then she suddenly turned red and looked away. Naruto started to panic, "Are you okay? Hinata did the same thing right before she fainted. Maybe there's something going around."

Ino smiled and waved his concern off, "It's fine," she said, "I just need to go inside. Maybe I'll try your suggestion and seek Shikamaru out."

Naruto waved to her as she left toward Shikamaru's house. He shrugged. Maybe he could switch his schedule around and train with Shikamaru first tomorrow. That's if the lazy bastard was even awake that early.

He smiled, put his hands in his pockets and started on his way home. The first day of training went well, but now that they had a foundation for their training, things would get more serious. His friends were going to kick so much ass.

**Owari**

**Sorry it took so long. I was in a car wreck and it affected my cervical vertebra and it hurts to sit up too long… That and a black cat crossed my path so I had to take the long way around. **

**I knew I was going to have to add that fate talk crap that Neji spouts eventually. I just didn't have a good chance to implement it.**

**I realize there is more to the Neji story, but because I do not focus on the clan troubles, I might have missed something. If I left something out that is major, could you point it out?**

**Also. I played Chess with my friend and he's like a genius that always wins against me. By some miracle, I was able to capture every piece of his except for the king, and just as I was about to put him in checkmate, the bastard stalemated me. I never came so close to beating him again, so whenever I think of Shikamaru and his shogi, I remember that stalemate. It's a mixed feeling.**

**You know, I wrote this chapter while listening to Bullet by Hollywood Undead and I was both depressed and enjoying myself at the same time. It was a strange feeling.**

**Unfortunately, this means I will have to write fight scenes for the finals and also when they stop Gaara. There will also be an extra fight scene, but I don't want to quite reveal what it is yet.**

**First 8, then 9, and now 7. It's so weird since I usually only write 4.**

**Anywho…****  
****Indubitably, I implore your reviewed input on my work of literature.**


	21. Chapter 21

**Disclaimer: I still don't own Naruto**

**Chapter 21**

Today was the day! Naruto ran up to the stadium with barely concealed excitement. Today he was going to see his friends totally own the competition. He kind of wished that he would have been able to help Sasuke train. After the party for the preliminaries, the two of them seemed to take their relationship to the next level. Now instead of outright hatred, they only shared mutual distaste. It wasn't friendship, but it was a step in the right direction.

Unfortunately, a few days after the first part of the exam, Kakashi had suddenly shown up and decided to take the Uchiha to train in some mountain thingy. They still hadn't shown up, but Naruto was sure that there was no way that the village would fail the "Precious Uchiha" so there was a good chance that even If they were late, they would be given a time extension, so he just made his way inside and met the other losers from the rookie 9 and Lee.

He watched down as the seven contestants came together on the field and a different Jōnin introduced himself as Shiranui Genma, the proctor. He had dark brown hair and brown eyes. The standard Jōnin outfit, his Hitai-ate was tied to his head like a bandanna. To make him even cooler, he had a senbon sticking out of his mouth. Before more could be said, he motioned for Hinata and Neji to set up for their battle and the rest were sent to a fighter box on the side.

The two walked up to the center and Genma called for them to start. When he jumped away, the two just seemed to stare at each other. Hinata pushed her fingers together timidly as she looked down, refusing to meet her cousins scathing glare. She was about to move to her fighting stance, her gaze still down, but she was stopped when he spoke to her.

"Why are you here?" he asked. Hinata blanched, but still kept her face down, so he continued, "Why have you decided to fight me? You are a failure. You fail in your spars against your sister, you fail in your training against branch members, and you fail in your role as clan head. You have no place here. You were destined by fate to fail, and as such, you will not succeed here."

Hinata started to quiver. She did her best to think of the encouragement and affirmations of her skill that Naruto gave her, but as she stood there, Neji's words seemed to creep their way into her mind and she began to back up. She couldn't do it. Why was she here? She had no place. He was right. She never could bring herself to hurt Hanabi or her cousins so she was always beaten in their spars. Did that make her weak?

"Shut the fuck up!" She was pulled from her mild panic attack as the famous blonde boy made his disagreement known to Neji, her, and the rest of the stadium, "Hinata's a hell of a lot better than you! I'm sure she could kick your ass blindfolded."

Hinata had to smile at that, she turned to where she saw Naruto waving at her from in the stands. Her smile only widened as she waved back, "Of course I can! I have the Byakugan!"

Naruto rubbed the back of his neck and gave a sheepish look. He sat back down quietly, but that little outburst seemed to be enough to bring her out of her funk. She stood up straight and readied herself, "You're wrong," she said. When Neji turned to her with a questioning look, she repeated herself, "You're wrong, Neji-nii-san. I am not a failure. My team and Naruto were very sure to pound that into my head as I trained," once she was completely set, she turned to Neji, "I will never run away again. As long as I have someone who believes in me, I will never give up!"

She launched herself at Neji, who seemed to be caught off guard by her newfound speed. He quickly jumped into his stance and deflected her hand just as it almost came in contact with one of his shoulder tenketsu. She jumped back before pushing off the ground to launch herself again. This time he was ready and he parried her attack and attempted to strike back, but was met with her own parry and she sent his arm way off target.

They began to go through a dance of jabs and parries. No attacks hit, but they did not have the stamina to continue forever, so they jump both jumped away from each other, panting slightly.

"Impressive improvement," Neji sneered, "But fate has branded you as a failure and you shall not leave this stadium victorious."

Hinata frowned, "Please don't talk like that, Neji-nii-san," she said, "Fate has no say here. If fate had its way, there would be two people out there who would be unable to be here," she paused and looked him in the eyes, "I'm sure you know Lee, right?"

Neji scoffed, "That failure? It figures you would associate yourself with someone like that."

Hinata's frown deepened, "If I'm not mistaken, he was told he was destined to be unable to be a ninja because of his poor chakra system. From your description, I would assume that he was branded by fate to fail as a ninja."

Neji nodded smugly.

Hinata's frown stayed and she sighed, "Did you not see his match? He fought with so much grace and proficiency that if it weren't for the fact that I had the byakugan, I would have never been able to tell about his Ninjutsu and Genjutsu abilities. As much as I respect my teammate, even I have to admit that he was outmatched against Lee."

Neji's smug smirk turned into a frown as she continued.

"Not only that. There was also another who was branded by fate to fail as a ninja. A boy who's chakra system was completely fried. He had the inability to even use chakra to walk on trees of water, let alone do a jutsu. Because he never gave up, he was able to study under a Taijutsu and Kenjutsu master, and he was soon able to fight on his own accord."

Neji scoffed, "So what? He probably didn't even make it past genin."

Hinata blushed, "Well, no," she conceded, "but you might know him too."

Neji raised an eyebrow.

"His name is Uzumaki Naruto."

There was a gasp not only from Neji, but from the stands as the crowd had been listening in.

"Oh come on!" Naruto shouted, "Is it really that hard to believe that I'm that badass?"

Neji's frown deepened more, "You expect me to believe that someone like that beat the assassin of the mist, Momochi Zabuza?"

The conversation was interrupted by a shout from the audience, "Goddammit! Why not just broadcast my humiliating defeat to the whole world?"

Neji seemed to be brought back from his stupor and he turned to Hinata, "No matter, you cannot escape your fate of losing here."

He turned to Hinata in time to see her making hand signs, but before he could express his surprise, Hinata shouted, "Suiton: Mizurappa!"

Suddenly, a burst of water shot from her mouth and sent him crashing against the wall with enough force to knock the wind out of him. When the water died down, Neji slumped to the ground, his exhaustion finally catching up with him. Normally, he would not be hit by such an attack, but the Hyūga were not trained to use elemental jutsu and the surprise caught him completely off guard. He slowly slid to the ground, and when he did not rise, Genma raised his hand, "Winner: Hyūga Hinata!"

Hinata ran up the stairs as Neji was hauled off on a stretcher. When she made it up the stairs, she threw her arms around Naruto and squealed. Naruto returned the hug, completely oblivious, and Ino and Sakura started steaming on the side.

After Hinata got down, Naruto ran to the railing as Tenten made her way to the field. He waved down at her.

"Good luck, Tenten-senpai!"

She waved back before putting on her game face and she turned to the field.

The two Kunoichi walked up to the center of the field and scowled at each other. Each got their respective weapons. Temari held her fan like a club while Tenten pulled out a kunai. Tenten tossed it toward her, and she blocked the projectile with her fan easily.

She did it almost lazily and Tenten took the opportunity to pull out two scrolls and set them down. She launched into the air, summoning weapons as her scrolls spun around her. As the crowd was watching with bated breath, she was summoning more until finally she was surrounded by a black mass of tools. With a flick of the wrist, the tools were released and a barrage of weaponry sped toward Temari. Said Kunoichi didn't even bat an eyelash. A blur passed in front of her and the tools all dropped to the ground.

Temari gave a smug look and pulled out her fan to show that it was partly open, revealing a purple circle, "This is the first moon. As soon as it reached three moons, this match will be over."

Temari smirked even more as Tenten seemed to squirm under her gaze. This was just going to be another easy victory over the leaf. First it was the fat one and now it's the girl with the weapons. She only wished she could have gotten someone who was tougher, maybe that boy who looked like he had a pineapple for a head.

She was cut from her musing as the girl made another pitiful attempt to summon another barrage. Temari just pretended to yawn and swung her fan to knock the weapons down. She was a bit surprised when the girl seemed to pull the weapons up with ninja wire, but she quickly swiped her fan and opened the third moon.

She looked at the tired Kunoichi in front of her and laughed. She put the back of her hand to her mouth and laughed patronizingly until she felt a small prick in her leg. She looked down in surprise to see that she had a senbon needle sticking out of her thigh. Damn, she got cocky. She stood up straight and leered. It didn't matter, however, because it was just a single senbon. All she had to do was use her wind-scythe jutsu and she would finish the battle.

She pulled her fan back to launch the attack, but she suddenly felt heavy as her vision blurred and she fell on her face, her fan clattering to the ground.

Tenten walked to her unmoving form and smirked, "I knew you would be paying attention to large masses of projectiles, so I just had to distract you long enough to use a poisoned senbon. Don't worry, I was told it wasn't enough to kill you."

Temari tried to swear, but she was unable due to the paralysis as Genma Claimed Tenten the winner.

As the field was cleared of the weapons, Kankuro walked up to the center of the field, but he didn't see his opponent anywhere. At first, he thought that the other guy dropped out. He smirked at the idea of a weakling like that attempting to ascend the ranks of a ninja. If others from the leaf were like that, maybe this invasion might be easier than he thought.

He saw that Genma was about to call the match by forfeit, but he was stopped when Shikamaru suddenly fell from the stands onto the ground below. Before anyone could ask what was going on, the Nara screamed back at the stand.

"You idiot! What was that for?"

Kankuro looked up in confusion to see that Uzumaki kid in the stands blowing kisses at him before pulling his eyelid down and sticking his tongue out.

Kankuro almost laughed when the pineapple head showed his disapproval with his middle finger. Unfortunately, this was no time to joke around, so he got the other boy's attention.

"Oi! Are we going to start soon?"

His comment seemed knock Genma out of his stupor and he raised his hand as Shikamaru made his way to the center. When they were all set, he lowered his hand to begin and jumped off.

"Well, Kankuro said, "This should be easy. In fact, I don't think here's even a point in hiding Karasu," to prove his point, he pulled out his puppet and set it in front of him.

Shikamaru made hand signs and his shadow seemed to stretch toward Kankuro. Fortunately, the puppet wielder already knew about it, so he jumped backwards until the shadow couldn't reach anymore. He smiled and sent Karasu forward. He may not have been able to get close to the Nara, but that didn't mean anything about his puppet.

He watched the leaf brat jump to try to dodge Karasu's barrage of attacks. He was almost caught off guard, but he quickly pulled his puppet back in time to block a kunai that Shikamaru launched during his dodge.

Kankuro laughed at the pitiful attempt, but he was stopped when Karasu suddenly exploded due to the exploding tag on the end of the Kunai. The parts flew all around them, but Kankuro wasn't worried. He moved his puppet strings and the arms lifted up and revealed poison laced blades out of the elbow.

He launched the arms, but he suddenly had to jump to the side to avoid another kunai. This time, however, he noticed the exploding tag and jumped out of the way of the explosion. The force sent Karasu's other broken parts flying to the side.

Kankuro frowned, but when he moved to get the other pieces, but the kunai appeared again and exploded sending him and some of the pieces flying again. Kankuro grit his teeth, but pushed up and readied his attack again, but he was stopped when he found himself unable to move.

He looked in surprise to see a single line of shadow led from underneath him and connected to a line of the debris from Karasu and finally stopped at the lazy bastard in front of him.

Shikamaru smirked, "It wasn't too tough to position your puppet where it gave me a chain of shadows to use."

Kankuro bit back a curse as the two of them started walking forward. They walked forward, they both raised their hand, and Shikamaru said, "I give up."

Screams of outrage filled the stadium until he spoke again, "As fun as this was, I don't think I could handle this exam. It's too much of a drag."

The outrage only intensified, but he seemed to be unaffected by the crowd and he just jumped out of the stadium. Naruto just stared at his lazy fiend in bewilderment. Soon, though, it changed to a proud smile and he smacked Shikamaru on the back, "Way to go, you lazy bastard. I knew you had it in you. Although I kinda wish you would have stayed for the next round."

"Mendokusē. It would have been too much of a hassle."

Naruto crossed his arms, but gave in, "Alright, then. Now we just need to wait for Sasuke."

He turned to the center and watched as that Gaara kid walked out onto the field. The tie ticked down, but just as predicted, instead of disqualifying their Uchiha, they continually extended his time until finally they couldn't. Just as the time was about to go out, Sasuke and Kakashi appeared in a swirl of leaves.

"YOU'RE LATE!" Naruto joined his other teammate as they scolded their Late Lecturer and their pending partner.

Sasuke waved them off and Kakashi left to meet the other two up in the stands. Naruto crossed his arms and stared incredulously.

Kakashi put his hand up in an unarming gesture, "Maa maa, sorry we're late. There was a lady with a lot of groceries that needed help."

Naruto ignored the ridiculous excuse and turned to the field in wonder as Sasuke moved around at such a great speed. He bounced around so fast that the sand Gaara controlled wasn't quick enough to stop him from his movements. Finally, Gaara just screamed and created a giant orb of sand around him.

What really surprised Naruto though, was when Sasuke started gathering lightning in his hand and started running at Gaara's small impromptu shelter. When the lightning punctured the sphere, there was a blood curdling scream, and the sand dropped to the ground to show what looked like a spasming angry red head. Suddenly, Kankuro jumped down into the field and helped Gaara and they jumped away. Sasuke jumped right after them.

Naruto looked around wondering why no one was calling that as a forfeit, but he was shocked to see that the majority of the people in the place were asleep and the Jōnin seem to be battling other sound and sand ninja.

He stopped as Kakashi jumped down in front of him and sighed, "Well, it looks like my suspicions were right. I have already sent Sasuke, Haku, and Shino after Gaara and Kankuro, but I have another mission for you and Lee," he motioned to Lee, who was looking a bit drowsy. He made a ram sign, and with a quick, "Kai!" Lee seemed to be fine again.

Kakashi nodded and looked at the two, "We have just received word that Orochimaru sent one of his lackeys to break into the Hokage tower while we were busy. I need the two of you to find who it is and find what it was they stole while also hopefully incapacitating them so we can bring them in for questioning.

Naruto nodded to Lee and then to Kakashi and they took off.

**Owari**

**Okay, so I kinda had to rush through the last part, so if there are mistakes, please point them out.**

**Shoutout to FlameOfAFriend94-senpai. This sparkling individual pointed out my gender confusion. Boy, that was embarassing  
Fight scenes…meh**

**I had to look online for a guide to write the damn things. Hopefully, they're good.**

**Anywho…****  
****I'ma countin on the reviews, yo**


	22. Chapter 22

**Disclaimer: Goshdernit! For the last time: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO! So quit asking.**

**Chapter 22**

Sasuke had to struggle to keep his cool appearance. Finally, Kakashi was generous enough to give him an A-rank mission. And to top it off, it was given before the Dobe. So that just meant that Sasuke was ahead. Sure, Shino had been sent with him, but that didn't matter now, since he distracted Kankurō when he tried to hold us back from Gaara's escape. He felt his excitement grow as he started to feel the nearing chakra signature.

He saw the back of the retreating redhead and he threw a shuriken. The sand easily deflected it, but it seemed to be enough to throw the panicking genin off balance and Gaara fell to the ground. He seemed to still be recovering from the wound inflicted during the chūnin exam. He quickly shot Sasuke a deadly look and he let out another blood curdling scream. Sasuke just scoffed and quickly closed the gap between them.

He unleashed a barrage of punches only to be blocked each time by the lightning fast sand. He jumped back to catch his breath only to see that all of his attacks were useless. He thought on his options, but not much came up. He knew that his chidori would probably work, but Kakashi told him that he was only able to do two, and he already did it once in the exams.

His eyes seemed to flicker to the mark on his neck. There was always that option.

**Flashback**

_Sasuke stood panting as Kakashi looked down. It had been a week since they decided to take their little training trip and it didn't seem to be much improvement. Sasuke knew that he was running on empty an there was no way that he was going to be able to stand much longer. If only he had more power._

_As soon as that thought came up, he suddenly felt a burning come from his neck and he was surprised to see that the creepy hicky from that snake had started to grow outwards and was spreading over his body. He suddenly felt like he could take on the world! He made a move to attack again, but he was stopped when he felt a pressure on his neck and he suddenly blacked out_

_When he woke up, Kakashi was sitting next to him and there was a fire set up. Sasuke sat up slowly, wincing and he looked over to his mentor._

"_What happened?"_

_Kakashi sighed, "You were infected by Orochimaru's tainted chakra nd you were almost taken over completely."_

_Sasuke looked expectantly, "What was that? I felt so much power. It was like I was invincible."_

_Kakashi looked serious, "You mustn't ever use that chakra. It eats away at your sanity and may one day drive you mad. No power is worth that. We will have to go through a sealing later to suppress it, but the effectiveness depends completely on your will to force it down. Just remember that no matter what, you mustn't resort to using that chakra."_

_Sasuke nodded reluctantly as he followed Kakashi out of their cave and makeshift home._

**Flashback End**

Sasuke knew that he wasn't supposed to use it, but the situation looked pretty dim. He reluctantly called to the power and he felt the burning flow over him and he felt the black marks grow on his skin. With a swift movement, he kicked off of the ground and flew at Gaara at high speed, reenacting the chūnin exam role. As he moved, he could hear an eerie whispering coming from the mark. He figured that that must have been what Kakashi meant when he said that it drives the user mad.

He started bouncing back and forth as the sand seemed to try and fail to keep up. Unfortunately, this chakra may have held more power, but it also seemed to drain him faster. He had to finish this fast. He sped quickly and made a move similar to the one that Lee had done to him. He jumped behind Gaara, kicked him in the air, jumped in the air, kicked him a few times, wrapped him in some bandages and spiraled toward the ground.

There was an explosion and Sasuke jumped back, falling to a knee. He smirked down with pride at Gaara's face, still frozen in pain. Maybe this power isn't as bad as Kakashi-sensei had said. He looked again, but his smirk slipped away as Gaara seemed to slip away and it looked like his face was crumbling. He watched in horror as Gaara turned into sand and the real enemy stepped forward. He looked up in shame. How could he fall for something like that? That attack had taken everything he had and now he was too weak to do anything.

To make it worse, Gaara started to cackle in madness. He motioned for his sand and it began to build up, it turned the redhead into what looked to be a half human, half tanuki hybrid. The strange boy looked up at him with drool dribbling down his lip and he smirked. Sasuke could barely respond with more than a grunt of surprise before He found himself being slammed with a blast of sand that sent him flying into a nearby tree and he knew no more.

**XxOxX**

Naruto and Lee quickly made their way to the forest as they saw a figure in a clearing. It seemed like he had a giant scroll strapped on his back. Naruto was surprised to see that the spy that they were sent to find was none other than the white haired chūnin that taught at the academy. His name was Mizu-something.

"Mizuki-sensei!" Lee called angrily.

"That's right!" Naruto said, hiding his revelation.

Mizuki smirked, "Well, well, well. Aren't I lucky? They sent the two weakest genin to catch me."

Lee smirked, "You'd do best not to underestimate us."

Suddenly, Naruto felt cold metal on his neck and he looked down to see a kunai and to the side, Lee was in a similar predicament. What he didn't expect to see was the second Mizuki behind him holding the knife.

He spoke, "You'd do best not to underestimate me either."

The Mizuki with the scroll smirked, "Since I was stealing this for Orochimaru-sama, he thought it might be helpful if he showed me a way to break the seal on it. You'd be surprised what you picked up."

Naruto scoffed and quickly ducked and swept the clones feet before it could react and dispelled it. He looked to the side to see Lee had also already taken out his captive. His glare shifted to Mizuki and it changed to slight worry when twenty more Mizuki's stepped out from behind trees around the original.

Lee gasped, "How have you made so many? This jutsu is supposed to eat up chakra."

One of the many spoke, "Orochimaru-sama was kind enough to bless me with one of his curse marks. As long as I don't activate the advanced stage, I can siphon chakra from the curse mark to make my clones."

Lee look of worry turned to determination and he glanced over at Naruto, "You go left, I'll go right."

Naruto smirked and deactivated his weights, "My thoughts exactly."

Once the both had weights off, the two disappeared in blurs and the area was filled with smoke from dispelled clones.

**XxOxX**

Haku stared in shock at the scene before him. Gaara was in a strange, if not disturbing, form and he had the Uchiha pinned to a tree. He looked as if he was going to crush the other boy, so Haku moved quickly.

He jumped down, making a few single handed seals and yelled, "Hyōton: Tsubame Fubuki!"

Suddenly, Ice sparrows appeared in front of him and shot forward, severing the arm of sand before Gaara could constrict anymore. Haku jumped down and caught Sasuke and lowered him to the ground. He frowned at the unconscious Uchiha and made sure he would survive before turning to the other boy.

"Gaara-kun!" he yelled, "Why are you doing this?"

Gaara's voice held the same madness it always did during his battles, "I am a weapon, and my mission is to kill everyone!"

Haku was taken aback, "Gaara-kun! You don't have to! Don't you remember what I said in the forest of death?"

**Flashback**

_Haku smiled as he waved to his friends as they walked to their rooms. Of all of the things he thought he was going to do, being a Chunin guide for his friends was definitely not on the top of his list. When the Hokage had approached him on the subject, he had immediately wondered why that Iruka fellow wasn't assigned there since he seemed to know them so well, but the Hokage had merely chuckled and said that because Iruka was his guardian, they didn't want Naruto getting any edge given to him. They really didn't think Iruka would cheat, but the precaution was understandable._

_The next thing he knew, he found himself in a large lounge where he studied the information he was supposed to rely to the genin. At first, after being summoned, he had been a bit worried by the shape his friends were in, but they were quick to argue that they were fine, and he reluctantly led them to their room, he was sure to point the directions to the medical center, then he left to check out the tower as they rested._

_As he made his way down the hall, he stopped when he felt a breeze from one of the rooms. He was surprised to see the window wide open as the curtains flapped in the wind on the side. He slowly made his way into the room, looking around nervously. Within one of the information pamphlets he read that open windows were a pretty big risk due to poison bugs and snakes that could make their way in. Seeing none off the aforementioned hazards, he made his way to the window and reached up to close it, but he was stopped by a flap of white cloth outside the window._

_Curiosity got the best of him and he stuck his head out the window and gasped when he saw a strange boy sitting on the slanted roof nearby. His blood red hair and sea foam green eyes were stunning in themselves, but what really caught him off guard was the kanji that was on his forehead. The boy seemed to not even notice him and just continued to stare up at the starry sky. Haku smiled at the boy and hopped up onto the roof beside him. Anyone who had "love" tattooed on their forehead couldn't be bad, right?_

"_Hello!" he said in his most cheerful voice, "My name's Haku, what's yours?"_

_The boy continued to stare up._

_Haku was not perturbed. "Whatcha doing out here?"_

_He remained silent._

_Haku sweat dropped, "You know, it's not very easy to talk to someone when there's no response."_

_The boy sighed, his gaze constant, "There is no point, we will probably meet in battle and I will probably kill you, so there is no need to familiarize yourself with me."_

_Haku was taken aback, "I thought that Konoha and Suna were on good terms. We would have no reason to fight."_

_The boy sighed again, but turned to stare Haku down, "It does not matter how we relate to each other. I am a weapon, and the only way I can prove my existence is to end the existence of others. Yours is no different. This short conversation has no effect on the future events if I were sent to attack you."_

_Haku gave him a sad, but understanding smile. This poor boy made him think of himself before he met Naruto, "Just because you are made to kill, it doesn't make you a weapon. You have feelings and emotions and unless I am extremely uninformed, there is not a weapon with such characteristics, ne?"_

_The boy gave him a curious look and sighed, "I am not allowed to have emotions. This was made certain when the one man who I ever thought loved me ended up dying in an assassination attempt."_

_Haku gasped, "That's horrible. You must have been devastated."_

_He gave a painful frown, "It was, dually so after the assassination was aimed at me. As he died, his last words to me were that he never loved me and I was a monster to be feared."_

_Haku sat down next to him and looked up at the stars beside him, "You know, when I was growing up, my own father, the man who took care of me my whole life, killed my mother in front of me and proceeded to try to kill me. I ended up killing him and as he died, he cursed the power within me."_

_Haku smiled sadly again, he hated reliving that terrible moment. He even tried to avoid it with Naruto by saying he was thrown out of his house instead of him killing his father. He stayed in that same position, looking up at the stars, but when he felt the other's gaze on him, he looked to meet the shocked face of the redhead. He seemed to be worried, but he looked at Haku and started to say, "How can you be so cheerful? You were hated by the man who said he loved you and you lost the only other person who loved you."_

_Haku gave him a warm smile, "I found another," at the confused gaze, he continued, "As I sat alone on the street, I started to think that there was no one in the world who cared. I started to doubt my own existence," he paused and made sure the boy was listening, "then he came. Zabuza was the first one to recognize me and he was the first to give me value. He was my first precious person. The one I would fight to protect._

_When he first started training me, I also only thought of myself as a weapon, but I seemed to grow on him and during our last job, I was introduced to someone who became my second precious person. Naruto came to me and he was able to show me how to live my life as something other than a weapon. Within the first week he spent with me, he was even able to convince Zabuza that I was more. I am forever indebted to him. These are my precious people. They give me power to do anything. The way I prove my existence is to protect and help them to my best ability."_

_The boy stood up and walked toward the open window, "You have given me something to think about," he paused, "My name is Gaara," and with that, he jumped into the window and disappeared. Haku chewed his lip as he wondered what just happened._

**Flashback End**

Gaara grabbed his head and shouted in pain, "I have no precious people to protect. I thought of what you said and I have no person who looks at me as other than a monster!"

Haku frowned, "What about your brother and sister?" Gaara stared in confusion, so he continued, "Your sister tried to break out of the hospital to make sure you were okay, even when she was still recovering. Your brother did his best to stall your pursuers so that you could escape. Does that not make them precious to you? They did everything in their power to help you."

Gaara looked even more confused and he grabbed his half mutated head and screamed again. The combination of physical and mental exhaustion seemed to finally take its toll and he passed out. Haku rushed to his side and flipped him over to check his vitals. Thankfully, he seemed uninjured in the most part aside from the bloody shoulder courtesy of the Uchiha.

Haku moved to help him up, but he was stopped when the sand started to roar around them. It raised high above them and crashed down onto the unconscious redhead. Haku could only watch in horror as the sand molded together and formed what looked like a giant Tanuki. Before he could even question what was going on, the creature spoke.

"Finally!" it yelled in a voice laced with bloodthirsty madness, "I thought I would never get out of there! I knew he would have to sleep sometime! Ichibi no Shukaku is back, baby!"

Haku could only stare in shock as the Tanuki, now known as Shukaku laughed out loud.

**XxOxX**

Lee and Naruto stood back to back as the Mizuki clones surrounded them. There was no end to them. Whenever they dispelled ten, fifteen would take their place. To top it off, it seemed that Orochimaru's tainted chakra seemed to make it where the clones took more than just a single hit to dispel.

"This is a little more difficult than I thought it would be." Lee said.

Naruto wiped the sweat from his brow, "Nah. These guys are punks, we can take em'."

Lee smirked and turned to Naruto, "I may be able to take them if I used the last resort."

Naruto's eyes widened, "No! You can't do that! You haven't trained your body enough!"

Lee smiled sadly down at his longest friend and sighed, "Forgive me."

Before the blonde could react, Lee quickly knocked him out with a strike to the back of the neck. He silently caught Naruto and gently lowered him to the ground.

"Ha!" Mizuki said, "Mutiny! I love it!"

Lee smirked, "You will."

He got into his taijutsu stance, took a deep breath, and felt the inner workings of his body. He reached down and found the first gate and shouted, "Kaimon: Kai!"

Suddenly, a blast of power surrounded Lee and the Mizuki's seemed to feel it, so they all launched again. Lee frowned and continued to go through the dance of punch, kick, block, but he was still able to find the next gate, "Kyūmon: Kai!"

He sped up even more and thee Mizuki's were falling even quicker. Hopefully, he wouldn't have to go up to the fourth gate. He hadn't trained enough to go that far without damaging his muscles severally. Unfortunately, the Mizuki's kept coming and He had to go to the next gate, "Seimon: Kai!"

The Mizuki's were now dropping like flies as they were beaten left and right. Lee was starting to think he might be able to beat this without internal damage.

Unfortunately, it was not to be as the Mizuki's seemed to realize they were outmatched, so they turned to an easier target: Naruto.

Lee paled as the horde headed toward his best friend, "Naruto-kun!" he yelled. He wouldn't be able to protect the unconscious boy while fighting off the traitor. He had to go to the next two gates, "Shōmon: Kai!Tomon: Kai!"

He could feel his muscle tissue tear as he sped toward the downed blonde and took out as many enemies as he could. They were falling left and right, but he couldn't go fast enough to keep them from Naruto. One of the clones had almost nicked him. Finally, Lee decided to accept his fate. He would open the last two in succession to finally end the battle, "Keimon: Kai! Kyōmon: Kai!"

His body was completely surrounded by a powerful aura and he launched off, destroying everything he came in contact with. Soon, there were absolutely no clones left. He used his enhanced senses to find a sweating and whimpering Mizuki hiding in a nearby hollowed out tree.

He broke it apart, smacked Mizuki around, and tied the chūnin up as best he could before he couldn't hold himself up anymore. He made his way to his downed friend and fell to his knees and then to onto his face. His last words were, "Forgive me, Gai-sensei, Naruto-kun." With that he closed his eyes.

**XxOxX**

Haku frowned. He had never fought something like this before. This creature, whatever it was, seemed to be completely untouchable. He had already sent several Yuki ryū **(2)** at the monster, but it easily deflected them. He was getting tired and Shukaku seemed to be ready for anything. Haku was going to try another futile attempt at attacking, but he was stopped by a grunt beside him. He looked back to see the Uchiha waking up.

"What happened?" he asked.

Haku frowned, "Gaara-kun turned into that thing up there, and I don't know how to stop him."

Sasuke frowned, activated his doujutsu, and scanned the creature, "The monster is made completely of sand. If I have time to rest up, I could use a Katōn jutsu to turn it to glass."

Haku smiled, "No, it's alright," he paused, "Thank you for your help. If I'd have known it was sand, I would have finished it earlier."

He quickly made an ice mirror behind Shukaku, transported to it, and touched the Tanuki's back, shouting, "Hyōton: Kōri no Nami"

The effect was instantaneous. A wave of ice shot from Haku's hand and completely froze the demon over. When he knew that it was frozen straight through, he finished, "Kudake kōri"

The ice suddenly shattered and fell to the ground, leaving behind an unconscious redhead. Haku didn't like the idea of waking him when he looked so peaceful, but due to the fact that that thing came out after Gaara passed out, he didn't want to take any chances. He leaned down and shook him awake. He was going to help the boy up, but he was stopped when a purple and black blur jumped in front of him and knocked him away from Gaara.

Haku had to hold back a smile as Gaara's siblings leaned down to help the newly awakened boy. They stood tense in a very hostile pose, as if ready for an attack from either Haku or Sasuke. They seemed ready to fight, but they were stopped by Gaara's weak voice, "That's enough," he said almost pleading, "Can we go home?"

Kankurō and Temari looked surprised, but they slowly nodded. They backed away slowly, the two holding up their little brother as best they could. Haku made no move to stop them, and Sasuke seemed pretty powerless at the moment, so the three took off.

Haku smiled as he heard a silent, "Kankurō, Temari, I'm sorry."

Sasuke grunted and got Haku's attention, "Did you really mean what you said about strength coming from protecting?" Haku gave a curious look, asking for elaboration, so Sasuke continued, "When I was fighting, I tried to rely on the power that Orochimaru gave me, but that didn't work, while you're desire to protect seemed to be enough to give you the strength needed."

Haku smiled, "Yes. As long as I have someone to protect, I am able to fight at my strongest."

Sasuke seemed to take on a thoughtful look and Haku smiled. He slowly helped the younger boy up, putting Sasuke's arm on his shoulder, "Let's go back to the village! I'm sure that we've won by now!"

Sasuke nodded and they took off.

**Jissai Owari**

**(That means "The Real End")**

**This was written before I even started the chapter, so it may contain important information:**

**[**

**As for the story itself, now that I am done, I would appreciate a review on the story overall. While a single "So cool!" or "nice story" is helpful towards my confidence in the story, it doesn't really help with my writing ability, so I may need a little more input.**

**I beg for you to destroy my story with critique and (I will probably regret this) be as nit-picky as possible. Every typo, every wrong logic, every mistake except in the author notes. Please point it out. Send me home in tears. I am very happy with my story, but I don't want to come back a few years after I get more experience in writing and find that the story is complete junk.**

**]**

**I finished…  
there will be no more from me.**

**And the question is answered! In retrospect, I guess I didn't really need the older idiot for my story, but at least you know why I decided to not kill Haku, ne?**

**Imagine my surprise. I did not actually expect to find Hyōton techniques. Who knew? It's just too bad that I had to make stuff up.**

**(2) Yuki ryū: Snow Dragon**

**Kori no Nami: Wave of ice**

**Kudake kōri: Shattered ice**

**Poor Lee. I kinda did that gate thing at the last minute, so I originally planned for him to survive, but then I realized, Hey! That's predictable…let's fix that. I really really hope it wasn't too unrealistic.**

**Imagine my joy when I found out the Japanese names for the eight gates. My inner otaku took over.**

**And I thought it was cool that I got to break up the fights just like that guy who actually MADE the show. A fight till a cliffy, then the other fight to a cliffy, and then the other fight to a cliffy and so on.**

**Special thanks to ****MegaKiraraLover-senpai for pointing my mistake out about the gates. I'm glad Lee can't count.**

**I know that's a bad way to end it, so if anyone has a suggestion on how to end it, please let me know. I never was good at ending stories.**

**Now that I have finished, this will slink back to the never updated stories, so I need your guys's help to spread the word, yo**


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